{"id":"CVE-2023-28837","aliases":["EUVD-2023-0279","GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9","PYSEC-2023-56"],"status":"published","title":"Wagtail vulnerable to denial-of-service via memory exhaustion when uploading large files","description":"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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nImage uploads are restricted to 10MB by default, however this validation only happens on the frontend and on the backend after the vulnerable code. \n\nPatched 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.","severity":{"version":"3.1","score":4.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-09","score":0.0107,"percentile":0.65076,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":true},"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"published":"2023-04-03T16:41:19Z","modified":"2026-10-28T02:31:09Z","fixes":[{"ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"wagtail","fixed_in":["4.2.2","4.1.4"],"sources":["ghsa","osv"]}],"affected":[{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"wagtail","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"4.2"},{"fixed":"4.2.2"}]}]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"wagtail","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"4.1.4"}]}]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"wagtail","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"4.2"},{"fixed":"4.2.2"}]}],"versions":["4.2","4.2.1"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"wagtail","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"4.1.4"}]}],"versions":["0.1","0.2","0.3","0.3.1","0.4","0.4.1","0.5","0.6","0.7","0.8","0.8.1","0.8.10","0.8.2","0.8.3","0.8.4","0.8.5","0.8.6","0.8.7","0.8.8","0.8.9","1.0","1.0b1","1.0b2","1.0rc1","1.0rc2","1.1","1.10","1.10.1","1.10rc1","1.11","1.11.1","1.11rc1","1.12","1.12.1","1.12.2","1.12.3","1.12.4","1.12.5","1.12.6","1.12rc1","1.13","1.13.1","1.13.2","1.13.3","1.13.4","1.13rc1","1.1rc1","1.2","1.2rc1","1.3","1.3.1","1.3rc1","1.4","1.4.1","1.4.2","1.4.3","1.4.4","1.4.5","1.4.6","1.4rc1","1.5","1.5.1","1.5.2","1.5.3","1.5rc1","1.6","1.6.1","1.6.2","1.6.3","1.6rc1","1.7","1.7rc1","1.8","1.8.1","1.8.2","1.8rc1","1.9","1.9.1","1.9rc1","2.0","2.0.1","2.0.2","2.0b1","2.0rc1","2.1","2.1.1","2.1.2","2.1.3","2.10","2.10.1","2.10.2","2.10rc1","2.10rc2","2.11","2.11.1","2.11.2","2.11.3","2.11.4","2.11.5","2.11.6","2.11.7","2.11.8","2.11.9","2.11rc1","2.12","2.12.1","2.12.2","2.12.3","2.12.4","2.12.5","2.12.6","2.12rc1","2.13","2.13.1","2.13.2","2.13.3","2.13.4","2.13.5","2.13rc1","2.13rc2","2.13rc3","2.14","2.14.1","2.14.2","2.14rc1","2.15","2.15.1","2.15.2","2.15.3","2.15.4","2.15.5","2.15.6","2.15rc1","2.15rc2","2.16","2.16.1","2.16.2","2.16.3","2.16rc1","2.16rc2","2.1rc1","2.1rc2","2.2","2.2.1","2.2.2","2.2rc1","2.2rc2","2.3","2.3rc1","2.3rc2","2.4","2.4rc1","2.5","2.5.1","2.5.2","2.5rc1","2.6","2.6.1","2.6.2","2.6.3","2.6rc1","2.7","2.7.1","2.7.2","2.7.3","2.7.4","2.7rc1","2.7rc2","2.8","2.8.1","2.8.2","2.8rc1","2.9","2.9.1","2.9.2","2.9.3","2.9rc1","3.0","3.0.1","3.0.2","3.0.3","3.0rc1","3.0rc2","3.0rc3","4.0","4.0.1","4.0.2","4.0.3","4.0.4","4.0rc1","4.0rc2","4.1","4.1.1","4.1.2","4.1.3","4.1rc1"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"wagtail","ranges":[{"type":"GIT","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"cfa11bbe00dbe7ce8cd4c0bbfe2a898a690df2bf"},{"fixed":"3c0c64642b9e5b8d28b111263c7f4bddad6c3880"},{"fixed":"c9d2fcd650a88d76ae122646142245e5927a9165"},{"fixed":"d4022310cbe497993459c3136311467c7ac6329a"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"4.2"},{"fixed":"4.2.2"},{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"4.1.4"}]}],"versions":["0.1","0.2","0.3","0.3.1","0.4","0.4.1","0.5","0.6","0.7","0.8","0.8.1","0.8.10","0.8.2","0.8.3","0.8.4","0.8.5","0.8.6","0.8.7","0.8.8","0.8.9","1.0","1.0b1","1.0b2","1.0rc1","1.0rc2","1.1","1.10","1.10.1","1.10rc1","1.11","1.11.1","1.11rc1","1.12","1.12.1","1.12.2","1.12.3","1.12.4","1.12.5","1.12.6","1.12rc1","1.13","1.13.1","1.13.2","1.13.3","1.13.4","1.13rc1","1.1rc1","1.2","1.2rc1","1.3","1.3.1","1.3rc1","1.4","1.4.1","1.4.2","1.4.3","1.4.4","1.4.5","1.4.6","1.4rc1","1.5","1.5.1","1.5.2","1.5.3","1.5rc1","1.6","1.6.1","1.6.2","1.6.3","1.6rc1","1.7","1.7rc1","1.8","1.8.1","1.8.2","1.8rc1","1.9","1.9.1","1.9rc1","2.0","2.0.1","2.0.2","2.0b1","2.0rc1","2.1","2.1.1","2.1.2","2.1.3","2.10","2.10.1","2.10.2","2.10rc1","2.10rc2","2.11","2.11.1","2.11.2","2.11.3","2.11.4","2.11.5","2.11.6","2.11.7","2.11.8","2.11.9","2.11rc1","2.12","2.12.1","2.12.2","2.12.3","2.12.4","2.12.5","2.12.6","2.12rc1","2.13","2.13.1","2.13.2","2.13.3","2.13.4","2.13.5","2.13rc1","2.13rc2","2.13rc3","2.14","2.14.1","2.14.2","2.14rc1","2.15","2.15.1","2.15.2","2.15.3","2.15.4","2.15.5","2.15.6","2.15rc1","2.15rc2","2.16","2.16.1","2.16.2","2.16.3","2.16rc1","2.16rc2","2.1rc1","2.1rc2","2.2","2.2.1","2.2.2","2.2rc1","2.2rc2","2.3","2.3rc1","2.3rc2","2.4","2.4rc1","2.5","2.5.1","2.5.2","2.5rc1","2.6","2.6.1","2.6.2","2.6.3","2.6rc1","2.7","2.7.1","2.7.2","2.7.3","2.7.4","2.7rc1","2.7rc2","2.8","2.8.1","2.8.2","2.8rc1","2.9","2.9.1","2.9.2","2.9.3","2.9rc1","3.0","3.0.1","3.0.2","3.0.3","3.0rc1","3.0rc2","3.0rc3","4.0","4.0.1","4.0.2","4.0.3","4.0.4","4.0rc1","4.0rc2","4.1","4.1.1","4.1.2","4.1.3","4.1rc1","4.2","4.2.1"]}],"products":[{"vendor":"torchbox","product":"wagtail"},{"vendor":"wagtail","product":"wagtail"}],"references":[{"url":"https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/security/advisories/GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9","tags":["x_refsource_CONFIRM","x_transferred","Mitigation","Vendor Advisory","advisory","web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/3c0c64642b9e5b8d28b111263c7f4bddad6c3880","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Patch","fix","web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/c9d2fcd650a88d76ae122646142245e5927a9165","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Release Notes","fix","web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/cfa11bbe00dbe7ce8cd4c0bbfe2a898a690df2bf","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Patch","fix","web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/d4022310cbe497993459c3136311467c7ac6329a","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Release Notes","fix","web"]},{"url":"https://docs.wagtail.org/en/stable/reference/settings.html#wagtailimages-max-upload-size","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Product","web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/releases/tag/v4.1.4","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Release Notes","web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/releases/tag/v4.2.2","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Release Notes","web"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-28837","tags":["advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/wagtail/PYSEC-2023-56.yaml","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9"},{"url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/28xxx/CVE-2023-28837.json","tags":["advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail","tags":["package"]}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2023-28837","title":"Wagtail vulnerable to denial-of-service via memory exhaustion when uploading large files","description":"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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nImage uploads are restricted to 10MB by default, however this validation only happens on the frontend and on the backend after the vulnerable code. \n\nPatched 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.","status":"published","published":"2023-04-03T16:41:19.467Z","modified":"2025-02-11T14:37:06.278Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium","assessor":"cna"}],"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:35:32.752775Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2023-0279","description":"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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nImage uploads are restricted to 10MB by default, however this validation only happens on the frontend and on the backend after the vulnerable code. \n\nPatched 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.","status":"published","published":"2023-04-03T16:41:19Z","modified":"2025-02-11T14:37:06Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-03T00:03:59.807436Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9","title":"Wagtail vulnerable to denial-of-service via memory exhaustion when uploading large files","description":"### Impact\n\nA 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 or denial of service.\n\nThe 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.\n\nImage uploads are [restricted to 10MB by default](https://docs.wagtail.org/en/stable/reference/settings.html#wagtailimages-max-upload-size), however this validation only happens on the frontend and on the backend after the vulnerable code. \n\n### Patches\n\nPatched versions have been released as Wagtail 4.1.4 (for the LTS 4.1 branch) and Wagtail 4.2.2 (for the current 4.2 branch).\n\n### Workarounds\n\nSite 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. Exactly how this is done will vary based on your hosting environment, but here are a few references for common setups:\n\n- Nginx: [`client_max_body_size`](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#client_max_body_size)\n- Apache: [`LimitRequestBody`](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#limitrequestbody)\n- Cloudflare: Already [imposes a limit of 100MB - 500MB](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cache/about/default-cache-behavior#customization-options-and-limitations) depending on plan\n- CloudFront: [`SizeConstraint`](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/waf/latest/APIReference/API_SizeConstraintStatement.html)\n- Traefik: [`traefik.http.middlewares.limit.buffering.maxRequestBodyBytes`](https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/middlewares/http/buffering/#maxrequestbodybytes)\n\nThe changes themselves are deep inside Wagtail, making patching incredibly difficult.","status":"published","published":"2023-04-03T19:18:09Z","modified":"2024-11-19T16:24:57Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium"},{"version":"3.1","score":4.4,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:38:21.777721Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2023-28837","description":"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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nImage uploads are restricted to 10MB by default, however this validation only happens on the frontend and on the backend after the vulnerable code. \n\nPatched 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.","status":"published","published":"2023-04-03T17:15:07.03Z","modified":"2026-06-17T05:48:52.887Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium","assessor":"secondary"},{"version":"3.1","score":4.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium","assessor":"primary"}],"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:07:51.883939Z"}],"osv":[{"id":"CVE-2023-28837","title":"Wagtail vulnerable to denial-of-service via memory exhaustion when uploading large files","description":"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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nImage uploads are restricted to 10MB by default, however this validation only happens on the frontend and on the backend after the vulnerable code. \n\nPatched 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.","status":"published","published":"2023-04-03T16:41:19.467Z","modified":"2026-10-28T02:31:09.522602169Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:44:31.468318Z"},{"id":"GHSA-33pv-vcgh-jfg9","title":"Wagtail vulnerable to denial-of-service via memory exhaustion when uploading large files","description":"### Impact\n\nA 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 or denial of service.\n\nThe 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.\n\nImage uploads are [restricted to 10MB by default](https://docs.wagtail.org/en/stable/reference/settings.html#wagtailimages-max-upload-size), however this validation only happens on the frontend and on the backend after the vulnerable code. \n\n### Patches\n\nPatched versions have been released as Wagtail 4.1.4 (for the LTS 4.1 branch) and Wagtail 4.2.2 (for the current 4.2 branch).\n\n### Workarounds\n\nSite 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. Exactly how this is done will vary based on your hosting environment, but here are a few references for common setups:\n\n- Nginx: [`client_max_body_size`](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#client_max_body_size)\n- Apache: [`LimitRequestBody`](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#limitrequestbody)\n- Cloudflare: Already [imposes a limit of 100MB - 500MB](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cache/about/default-cache-behavior#customization-options-and-limitations) depending on plan\n- CloudFront: [`SizeConstraint`](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/waf/latest/APIReference/API_SizeConstraintStatement.html)\n- Traefik: [`traefik.http.middlewares.limit.buffering.maxRequestBodyBytes`](https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/middlewares/http/buffering/#maxrequestbodybytes)\n\nThe changes themselves are deep inside Wagtail, making patching incredibly difficult.","status":"published","published":"2023-04-03T19:18:09Z","modified":"2026-09-10T03:49:53.230639651Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":4.4,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","level":"medium"},{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-400","CWE-770"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:46:35.050232Z"},{"id":"PYSEC-2023-56","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2023-04-03T17:15:00Z","modified":"2023-11-08T04:12:14.942174Z","updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:52:53.837392Z"}]}}