How severe is CVE-2023-43665?

CVE-2023-43665 has a CVSS score of 5.9/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-43665?

CVE-2023-43665 affects the following packages: django (PyPI), django (PyPI), django (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2023-43665?

Update django to 3.2.22 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-43665 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-43665 in my PyPI dependencies?

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.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-43665 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Is CVE-2023-43665 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-43665 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-43665?

CVE-2023-43665 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.5%, placing it in the 74th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-43665?

CVE-2023-43665 is classified as CWE-1284 (CWE-1284). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-43665 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-43665 was published on November 3, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍

🐍 PyPI

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2023-43665 — django

MEDIUMFix: django/django@be9c27c

CVE-2023-43665 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-1284 vulnerability in django. A fix is available for django — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Django Denial-of-service in django.utils.text.Truncator

Also known asBIT-django-2023-43665GHSA-h8gc-pgj2-vjm3PYSEC-2023-226

Published

Nov 3, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

3 pkgs

Patched

3 / 3

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 7, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.5%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs74th percentile — riskier than 74% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

3 pkgs affected

🐍django🐍django🐍django

Real-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

In Django 3.2 before 3.2.22, 4.1 before 4.1.12, and 4.2 before 4.2.6, the django.utils.text.Truncator chars() and words() methods (when used with html=True) are subject to a potential DoS (denial of service) attack via certain inputs with very long, potentially malformed HTML text. The chars() and words() methods are used to implement the truncatechars_html and truncatewords_html template filters, which are thus also vulnerable. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2019-14232.

Affected Packages

3 total 3 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`django`	≥ 3.2a1&&< 3.2.22	3.2.22`pip install --upgrade 'django==3.2.22'`
🐍PyPI	`django`	≥ 4.1a1&&< 4.1.12	4.1.12`pip install --upgrade 'django==4.1.12'`
🐍PyPI	`django`	≥ 4.2a1&&< 4.2.6	4.2.6`pip install --upgrade 'django==4.2.6'`

Affected Products

2 products · 4 configurations

Application

djangodjangoproject

≥ 4.2 && < 4.2.6

range

fedorafedoraproject

1 version

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
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 3.2.22 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-43665 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Red HatModerate

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8	`python3x-django-0:3.2.22-1.el8ap`	RHSA-2023:5758
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8	`automation-controller-0:4.4.7-1.el8ap`	RHSA-2023:6158
Red Hat Satellite 6.14 for RHEL 8	`python-django-0:3.2.22-1.el8pc`	RHSA-2024:1536
Red Hat Satellite 6.15 for RHEL 8	`python-django-0:4.2.9-1.el8pc`	RHSA-2024:2010
RHUI 4 for RHEL 8	`python-django-0:4.2.11-1.el8ui`	RHSA-2024:1878

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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