CVE-2025-32873
MEDIUMCVE-2025-32873 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-770 vulnerability in django. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2025-32873 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Django has a denial-of-service possibility in strip_tags()
Blast Radius
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
An issue was discovered in Django 4.2 before 4.2.21, 5.1 before 5.1.9, and 5.2 before 5.2.1. The django.utils.html.strip_tags() function is vulnerable to a potential denial-of-service (slow performance) when processing inputs containing large sequences of incomplete HTML tags. The template filter striptags is also vulnerable, because it is built on top of strip_tags().
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 4.2&&< 4.2.21 | 4.2.21 |
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 5.1&&< 5.1.9 | 5.1.9 |
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 5.2&&< 5.2.1 | 5.2.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for django. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update django to 4.2.21 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-32873 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2025-32873 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2025-32873. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-32873 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2025-32873 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.