CVE-2023-28837

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

MEDIUM
4.9
CVSS Score
Published: April 3, 2023 at 04:41 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:48 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsWagtailWagtail

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Severity
MEDIUM4.9
Exploit prediction
EPSS 1%
SSVC
No known exploit

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 4.1.44.2 ≤ v < 4.2.2
Affected range stops below 4.1.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.2.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 4.1.4v < 4.2.2
Affected range stops below 4.1.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.2.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

4.9MEDIUMGitHub_M
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
HIGH
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-400CWE-770

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