CVE-2009-2659 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in django. A fix is available for django — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Django Admin Media Handler Vulnerable to Directory Traversal
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
django🐍djangoReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
The Admin media handler in core/servers/basehttp.py in Django 1.0 and 0.96 does not properly map URL requests to expected "static media files," which allows remote attackers to conduct directory traversal attacks and read arbitrary files via a crafted URL.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 0.96.0&&< 0.96.4 | 0.96.4pip install --upgrade 'django==0.96.4' |
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 1.0&&< 1.0.3 | 1.0.3pip install --upgrade 'django==1.0.3' |
Affected Products
djangodjango_projectDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for django, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update django to 0.96.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2009-2659 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2009-2659 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.