Django denial-of-service possibility in urlize and urlizetrunc template filters
An issue was discovered in Django 2.0 before 2.0.3, 1.11 before 1.11.11, and 1.8 before 1.8.19. The django.utils.html.urlize() function was extremely slow to evaluate certain inputs due to catastrophic backtracking vulnerabilities in two regular expressions (only one regular expression for Django 1.8.x). The urlize() function is used to implement the urlize and urlizetrunc template filters, which were thus vulnerable.
Affected software
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| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python (PyPI) | django | >= 2.0a1, < 2.0.3, >= 1.11a1, < 1.11.11, >= 1.8a1, < 1.8.19 | 2.0.3, 1.11.11, 1.8.19 |
References
- https://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2018/mar/06/security-releases/
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/03/msg00006.html
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103361
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3591-1/
- https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4161
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2927
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0082
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0051
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0265
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-r28v-mw67-m5p9
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-7536
- https://github.com/django/django/commit/1ca63a66ef3163149ad822701273e8a1844192c2
- https://github.com/django/django/commit/abf89d729f210c692a50e0ad3f75fb6bec6fae16
- https://github.com/django/django/commit/e157315da3ae7005fa0683ffc9751dbeca7306c8
- https://github.com/django/django
- https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/django/PYSEC-2018-5.yaml
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3591-1
- https://web.archive.org/web/20200227131019/http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103361
- https://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2018/mar/06/security-releases
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-185- Platform
- Python (PyPI)
- Package
django- Disclosed
- 09.03.2018
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 11:20
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2018-5 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-r28v-mw67-m5p9 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: django
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 162
- First → latest
- 10.2007 08.2026
- Without a fix
- 1
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 16
- High 65
- Medium 63
- Low 18
Disclosures per year
- 2017: 3
- 2018: 5
- 2019: 11
- 2020: 6
- 2021: 8
- 2022: 14
- 2023: 7
- 2024: 14
- 2025: 12
- 2026: 26
earlier: 56
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Django denial-of-service possibility in urlize and urlizetrunc template filters this entry
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