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TI-2023-13343 Aliases CVE-2023-28837GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9

Wagtail vulnerable to denial-of-service via memory exhaustion when uploading large files

Priority LOW 25CWE-400Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-400.

Summary

Wagtail is an open source content management system built on Django. Prior to versions 4.1.4 and 4.2.2, a memory exhaustion bug exists in Wagtail's handling of uploaded images and documents. For both images and documents, files are loaded into memory during upload for additional processing. A user with access to upload images or documents through the Wagtail admin interface could upload a file so large that it results in a crash of denial of service. The vulnerability is not exploitable by an ordinary site visitor without access to the Wagtail admin. It can only be exploited by admin users with permission to upload images or documents. Image uploads are restricted to 10MB by default, however this validation only happens on the frontend and on the backend after the vulnerable code. Patched versions have been released as Wagtail 4.1.4 and Wagtail 4.2.2). Site owners who are unable to upgrade to the new versions are encouraged to add extra protections outside of Wagtail to limit the size of uploaded files.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.0107 65th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed wagtail (wagtail): 4.1.4, 4.2.2wagtail (PyPI): 4.2.2, 4.1.4

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
wagtailwagtailbefore 4.1.4; 4.2 to before 4.2.24.1.4, 4.2.2Patch availableCNA
—wagtail (PyPI)4.2 to before 4.2.24.2.2Patch availableGHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9
—wagtail (PyPI)before 4.1.44.1.4Patch availableGHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9
  • wagtail Vendorwagtail Affected before 4.1.4; 4.2 to before 4.2.2 Fixed in 4.1.4, 4.2.2 Patch available CNA
  • wagtail (PyPI) Vendor— Affected 4.2 to before 4.2.2 Fixed in 4.2.2 Patch available GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9
  • wagtail (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 4.1.4 Fixed in 4.1.4 Patch available GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:torchbox:wagtail:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*before 4.1.4; 4.2 to before 4.2.2Vulnerablewagtail
  • cpe:2.3:a:torchbox:wagtail:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 4.1.4; 4.2 to before 4.2.2 Vulnerable ·wagtail

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA wagtail (wagtail) Fixed in 4.1.4, 4.2.2
  • Fix · GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9 wagtail (PyPI) Fixed in 4.2.2 Advisory →
  • Fix · GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9 wagtail (PyPI) Fixed in 4.1.4 Advisory →

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-28837
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9

References

Patch 2

Advisory 2

Other 7

  • TI-2026-39163 Wagtail: Reflected XSS in dynamic image URL generator view CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.3
  • TI-2020-08875 Possible XSS attack in Wagtail CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.8
  • TI-2023-13342 Wagtail vulnerable to stored Cross-site Scripting attack via ModelAdmin views CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.4
  • TI-2026-32180 Wagtail: Improper restriction handling on Documents and Images API CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
  • TI-2026-22558 Wagtail: Improper escaping of HTML (Cross-site Scripting) in simple_translation admin interface CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.1
  • TI-2026-22557 Wagtail: Improper escaping of HTML (Cross-site Scripting) on TableBlock class attributes CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.1
See all 22 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences