GHSA-37hp-765x-j95x CVE-2017-7233 PYSEC-2017-9

Django open redirect and possible XSS attack via user-supplied numeric redirect URLs

Medium PyPI

Severity: 0.0 / 10; Medium · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS): 2.40%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 84.06% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: CWE-601 URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')
Fix: 1.10.7; Upgrade django to this version or later

Description

Django 1.10 before 1.10.7, 1.9 before 1.9.13, and 1.8 before 1.8.18 relies on user input in some cases to redirect the user to an "on success" URL. The security check for these redirects (namely django.utils.http.is_safe_url()) considered some numeric URLs "safe" when they shouldn't be, aka an open redirect vulnerability. Also, if a developer relies on is_safe_url() to provide safe redirect targets and puts such a URL into a link, they could suffer from an XSS attack.

Affected versions

PyPI

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
django	`>= 1.10a1, < 1.10.7`	`1.10.7`
django	`>= 1.9a1, < 1.9.13`	`1.9.13`
django	`>= 1.8a1, < 1.8.18`	`1.8.18`
django	`>= 1.10, < 1.10.7` `>= 1.9, < 1.9.13` `>= 1.8, < 1.8.18`	`1.8.18` `1.9.13` `1.10.7`

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

django PyPI → `1.10.7`

pip

pip install --upgrade "django>=1.10.7"

poetry

poetry add "django>=1.10.7"

uv

uv add "django>=1.10.7"

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 0.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Attack requirements: None
Privileges required: None
User interaction: Passive
Confidentiality (vulnerable system): None
Integrity (vulnerable system): None
Availability (vulnerable system): None
Confidentiality (subsequent systems): Low
Integrity (subsequent systems): Low
Availability (subsequent systems): None

CVSS 3.0 6.1

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: Required
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Weakness

CWE-601: URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')

The web application accepts a user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses that link in a redirect.

How to prevent it

Implementation: Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue." Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright. Use a list of approved URLs or domains to be used for redirection.
Architecture and Design: Use an intermediate disclaimer page that provides the user with a clear warning that they are leaving the current site. Implement a long timeout before the redirect occurs, or force the user to click on the link. Be careful to avoid XSS problems (CWE-79) when generating the disclaimer page.
Architecture and Design: When the set of acceptable objects, such as filenames or URLs, is limited or known, create a mapping from a set of fixed input values (such as numeric IDs) to the actual filenames or URLs, and reject all other inputs. For example, ID 1 could map to "/login.asp" and ID 2 could map to "http://www.example.com/". Features such as the ESAPI AccessReferenceMap [REF-45] provide this capability.
Architecture and Design: Ensure that no externally-supplied requests are honored by requiring that all redirect requests include a unique nonce generated by the application [REF-483]. Be sure that the nonce is not predictable (CWE-330).
Architecture and Design, Implementation: Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide data to the application. Remember that such inputs may be obtained indirectly through API calls. Many open redirect problems occur because the programmer assumed that certain inputs could not be modified, such as cookies and hidden form fields.
Operation: Use an application firewall that can detect attacks against this weakness. It can be beneficial in cases in which the code cannot be fixed (because it is controlled by a third party), as an emergency prevention measure while more comprehensive software assurance measures are applied, or to provide defense in depth [REF-1481].

References

Advisories

Write-ups

djangoproject.com/weblog/2017/apr/04/security-releases

Packages

github.com/django/django

Timeline

Apr 4, 2017 Published
Sep 18, 2024 Last updated by the source
Oct 31, 2026 Latest EPSS score

Advisory	Severity	Why it's related
GHSA-q238-5cxm-5c9h Django GeoDjango vulnerable to denial of service through deeply nested geometry collections	Medium	Also affects django
GHSA-wvqv-fj8w-qmhm Django GeoDjango spatial lookups allow file writes and outbound requests through GDAL raster parsing	High	Also affects django
GHSA-8qcx-xf44-272x Django: DomainNameValidator permits newline characters that may enable HTTP header injection	Medium	Also affects django
GHSA-crhf-3pfg-w68w Django: GDALRaster may over-read heap memory when constructed from bytes	Medium	Also affects django
GHSA-3h9f-r86x-qvjx Django: cache middleware may expose private responses when unrelated request cookies are present	Medium	Also affects django
GHSA-8cjm-8mp7-r2xf Django: UpdateCacheMiddleware may disclose cached responses due to case-sensitive Cache-Control handling	Medium	Also affects django
GHSA-mm6v-q8q9-pgcf Django fails to prevent reuse of a partially-initialized connection after a failed `STARTTLS` handshake	Low	Also affects django
GHSA-h7pc-vwp9-298g Django: signed cookies are vulnerable to salt namespace collisions	Medium	Also affects django

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