Django 1.8.18 release notes

April 4, 2017

Django 1.8.18 fixes two security issues in 1.8.17.

CVE-2017-7233: Open redirect and possible XSS attack via user-supplied numeric redirect URLs

Django relies on user input in some cases (e.g. django.contrib.auth.views.login() and i18n) to redirect the user to an “on success” URL. The security check for these redirects (namely django.utils.http.is_safe_url()) considered some numeric URLs (e.g. http:999999999) “safe” when they shouldn’t be.

Also, if a developer relies on is_safe_url() to provide safe redirect targets and puts such a URL into a link, they could suffer from an XSS attack.

CVE-2017-7234: Open redirect vulnerability in django.views.static.serve()

A maliciously crafted URL to a Django site using the serve() view could redirect to any other domain. The view no longer does any redirects as they don’t provide any known, useful functionality.

Note, however, that this view has always carried a warning that it is not hardened for production use and should be used only as a development aid.