GHSA-3h9f-r86x-qvjx is a low-severity (CVSS 3.1) CWE-524 vulnerability in django. A fix is available for django — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Django: cache middleware may expose private responses when unrelated request cookies are present
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-3h9f-r86x-qvjx.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-3h9f-r86x-qvjx plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
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
An issue was discovered in Django 6.0 before 6.0.7 and 5.2 before 5.2.16.
UpdateCacheMiddleware and the cache_page() decorator cache responses that vary on cookies when the incoming request carries unrelated cookies, which allows remote attackers to read private data from the shared cache.
Earlier, unsupported Django series (such as 5.0.x, 4.1.x, and 3.2.x) were not evaluated and may also be affected.
Django would like to thank Chris Whyland for reporting this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | django | all versions | 5.2.16pip install --upgrade 'django==5.2.16' |
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.0.7 | 6.0.7pip install --upgrade 'django==6.0.7' |
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 5.2.16 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-3h9f-r86x-qvjx 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-3h9f-r86x-qvjx can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-3h9f-r86x-qvjx. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-3h9f-r86x-qvjx in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-3h9f-r86x-qvjx across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.