Possible XSS attack in Wagtail
Impact
A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists on the page revision comparison view within the Wagtail admin interface. A user with a limited-permission editor account for the Wagtail admin could potentially craft a page revision history that, when viewed by a user with higher privileges, could perform actions with that user's credentials. The vulnerability is not exploitable by an ordinary site visitor without access to the Wagtail admin.
Patches
Patched versions have been released as Wagtail 2.7.2 (for the LTS 2.7 branch) and Wagtail 2.8.1 (for the current 2.8 branch).
Workarounds
Site owners who are unable to upgrade to the new versions can disable the revision comparison view by adding the following URL route to the top of their project's urls.py configuration:
from django.views.generic.base import RedirectView
urlpatterns = [
url(r'^admin/pages/(\d+)/revisions/compare/', RedirectView.as_view(url='/admin/')),
# ...
]Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Vlad Gerasimenko for reporting this issue.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Visit Wagtail's support channels
- Email us at security@wagtail.io (if you wish to send encrypted email, the public key ID is
0x6ba1e1a86e0f8ce8)
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python (PyPI) | wagtail | >= 1.9.0, < 2.7.2, >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.1 | 2.7.2, 2.8.1 |
References
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/security/advisories/GHSA-v2wc-pfq2-5cm6
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/releases/tag/v2.8.1
- https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/61045ceefea114c40ac4b680af58990dbe732389
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-11001
- https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/wagtail/PYSEC-2020-152.yaml
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-79, CWE-80- Platform
- Python (PyPI)
- Package
wagtail- Disclosed
- 14.04.2020
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 15:17
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2020-152 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-v2wc-pfq2-5cm6 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: wagtail
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
- 30
- First → latest
- 04.2020 08.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- High 5
- Medium 22
- Low 3
Disclosures per year
- 2020: 3
- 2021: 2
- 2022: 1
- 2023: 3
- 2024: 3
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 18
-
Possible XSS attack in Wagtail this entry
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