GHSA-23m2-mghx-vqmf — wagtail
HIGHGHSA-23m2-mghx-vqmf is a high-severity (CVSS 7.3) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in wagtail. A fix is available for wagtail — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Wagtail: Reflected XSS in dynamic image URL generator view
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-23m2-mghx-vqmf.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-23m2-mghx-vqmf by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 382,621 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
wagtail🐍wagtailReal-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
Impact
A reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists on the dynamic image URL generator view within the Wagtail admin interface. A user with a limited-permission editor account for the Wagtail admin could craft a URL that, when viewed by a user with higher privileges, could perform actions with that user's credentials. The vulnerability is present for all sites, even if they do not enable the dynamic image serve view. The vulnerability is not exploitable by an ordinary site visitor without access to the Wagtail admin.
Patches
Patched versions have been released as Wagtail 7.3.3 and 7.4.2.
Workarounds
For sites that cannot easily upgrade to a current supported version, the vulnerability can be patched by adding the following code to urls.py URL pattern declarations to override the vulnerable view. This disables the admin dynamic image preview functionality, while the public-facing dynamic image serve view still works.
from django.http import HttpResponseBadRequest
from django.urls import path
from wagtail.admin import urls as wagtailadmin_urls
def disabled_output(request, image_id):
return HttpResponseBadRequest("", content_type="text/plain")
urlpatterns = [
# Example where the CMS admin is at /admin/.
# Add this before the Wagtail admin URLs registration, with the same sub-path.
path("admin/images/<int:image_id>/generate_url/output/", disabled_output),
path("admin/", include(wagtailadmin_urls)),
]
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Thibaud Colas (@thibaudcolas) for reporting this issue.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Visit Wagtail's support channels
- Email us at [email protected] (view our security policy for more information).
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | wagtail | ≥ 7.3&&< 7.3.3 | 7.3.3pip install --upgrade 'wagtail==7.3.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | wagtail | ≥ 7.4&&< 7.4.2 | 7.4.2pip install --upgrade 'wagtail==7.4.2' |
Affected Products
wagtailtorchboxDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for wagtail, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update wagtail to 7.3.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-23m2-mghx-vqmf 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 GHSA-23m2-mghx-vqmf in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.