CVE-2020-15118
What it is
In Wagtail before versions 2.7.4 and 2.9.3, when a form page type is made available to Wagtail editors through the `wagtail.contrib.forms` app, and the page template is built using Django's standard form rendering helpers such as form.as_p, any HTML tags used within a form field's help text will be rendered unescaped in the page. Allowing HTML within help text is an intentional design decision by Django; however, as a matter of policy Wagtail does not allow editors to insert arbitrary HTML by default, as this could potentially be used to carry out cross-site scripting attacks, including privilege escalation. This functionality should therefore not have been made available to editor-level users. The vulnerability is not exploitable by an ordinary site visitor without access to the Wagtail admin. Patched versions have been released as Wagtail 2.7.4 (for the LTS 2.7 branch) and Wagtail 2.9.3 (for the current 2.9 branch). In these versions, help text will be escaped to prevent the inclusion of HTML tags. Site owners who wish to re-enable the use of HTML within help text (and are willing to accept the risk of this being exploited by editors) may set WAGTAILFORMS_HELP_TEXT_ALLOW_HTML = True in their configuration settings. Site owners who are unable to upgrade to the new versions can secure their form page templates by rendering forms field-by-field as per Django's documentation, but omitting the |safe filter when outputting the help text.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited over the network with an admin-level account, but needs a user to act. High risk of data exposure, data tampering.
- Exploit odds
- 1.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Fix
- A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.
Timeline
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Why it ranks here
- Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
- Exploit odds: 1.1% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Severity: 5.7 MEDIUM (CVSS).
- Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 1.1% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-79 · Cross-site scripting
- Record status
- Modified
Affected
- Torchbox Wagtail < 2.7.4
- Torchbox Wagtail < 2.9.3
Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 5.7
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Is it in your code?
Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.
Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2020-15118.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2020-15118. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.
Fix and advisories
- https://docs.wagtail.io/en/stable/reference/contrib/forms/index.html#usage
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/d9a41e7f24d08c024acc9a3094940199df94db34
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/security/advisories/GHSA-2473-9hgq-j7xw
- https://docs.wagtail.io/en/stable/reference/contrib/forms/index.html#usage
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/d9a41e7f24d08c024acc9a3094940199df94db34
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/security/advisories/GHSA-2473-9hgq-j7xw
References
- https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/ref/models/fields/#django.db.models.Field.help_text
- https://docs.wagtail.io/en/stable/reference/contrib/forms/index.html#usage
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/blob/master/docs/releases/2.9.3.rst
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/d9a41e7f24d08c024acc9a3094940199df94db34
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/security/advisories/GHSA-2473-9hgq-j7xw
- https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/ref/models/fields/#django.db.models.Field.help_text
- https://docs.wagtail.io/en/stable/reference/contrib/forms/index.html#usage
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/blob/master/docs/releases/2.9.3.rst
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/d9a41e7f24d08c024acc9a3094940199df94db34
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/security/advisories/GHSA-2473-9hgq-j7xw