CVE-2015-0220 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in django. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for django — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Django Cross-site Scripting Vulnerability
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🐍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 django.util.http.is_safe_url function in Django before 1.4.18, 1.6.x before 1.6.10, and 1.7.x before 1.7.3 does not properly handle leading whitespaces, which allows remote attackers to conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks via a crafted URL, related to redirect URLs, as demonstrated by a "\njavascript:" URL.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | django | all versions | 1.4.18pip install --upgrade 'django==1.4.18' |
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 1.6&&< 1.6.10 | 1.6.10pip install --upgrade 'django==1.6.10' |
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 1.7&&< 1.7.3 | 1.7.3pip install --upgrade 'django==1.7.3' |
Affected Products
ubuntu linuxcanonicaldjangodjangoprojectResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & 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 1.4.18 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2015-0220 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2015-0220 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.