Django Denial-of-service possibility with strip_tagsGHSA-j3j3-jrfh-cm2w
HIGHFix: django/django@5447709GHSA-j3j3-jrfh-cm2w is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-399 vulnerability in django. A fix is available for django — see the affected versions and patch details below.
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 utils.html.strip_tags function in Django 1.6.x before 1.6.11, 1.7.x before 1.7.7, and 1.8.x before 1.8c1, when using certain versions of Python, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) by increasing the length of the input string.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 1.6&&< 1.6.11 | 1.6.11pip install --upgrade 'django==1.6.11' |
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 1.7&&< 1.7.7 | 1.7.7pip install --upgrade 'django==1.7.7' |
| 🐍PyPI | django | ≥ 1.8a1&&< 1.8c1 | 1.8c1pip install --upgrade 'django==1.8c1' |
Affected Products
ubuntu linuxcanonicaldjangodjangoprojectfedorafedoraprojectopensuseopensusesolarisoracleDetection & 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 1.6.11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-j3j3-jrfh-cm2w 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-j3j3-jrfh-cm2w in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.