CVE-2023-28836 [Medium] | XSS in Wagtail

Wagtail is an open source content management system built on Django. Starting in version 1.5 and prior to versions 4.1.4 and 4.2.2, a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists on ModelAdmin views within the Wagtail admin interface. A user with a limited-permission editor account for the Wagtail admin could potentially craft pages and documents 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, and only affects sites with ModelAdmin enabled. For page, the vulnerability is in the "Choose a parent page" ModelAdmin view (`ChooseParentView`), available when managing pages via ModelAdmin. For documents, the vulnerability is in the ModelAdmin Inspect view (`InspectView`) when displaying document fields. 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 can disable or override the corresponding functionality.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	1.10%	0.77%	-0.32%
2	2026-04-09	0.67%	1.10%	+0.42%
3	2026-04-05	—	0.67%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

1.10%

0.77%

-0.32%

2026-04-09

0.67%

1.10%

+0.42%

2026-04-05

—

0.67%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
6.4	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. Privileges required (PR:H) They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	0.5	5.9	[email protected]
5.4	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. Confidentiality (C:L) Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump. Integrity (I:L) Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.3	2.7	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

6.4

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:H): They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

0.5

5.9

[email protected]

5.4

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L): Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L): Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.3

2.7

[email protected]

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-28836

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
torchbox	wagtail	>= 1.5, < 4.1.4	cpe:2.3:a:torchbox:wagtail::::::::
torchbox	wagtail	>= 4.2, < 4.2.2	cpe:2.3:a:torchbox:wagtail::::::::

References for CVE-2023-28836

URL	Tags
https://docs.wagtail.org/en/stable/reference/contrib/modeladmin/chooseparentview.html#customising-chooseparentview	Product
https://docs.wagtail.org/en/stable/reference/contrib/modeladmin/inspectview.html#enabling-customising-inspectview	Product
https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/5be2b1ed55fd7259dfdf2c82e7701dba407b8b62	Patch
https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/bc84bf9815610cfbf8db3b6050c7ddcbaa4b9713	Release Notes
https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/eefc3381d37b476791610e5d30594fae443f33af	Release Notes
https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/commit/ff806ab173a504395fdfb3139eb0a29444ab4b91	Patch
https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/releases/tag/v4.2.2	Release Notes
https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/security/advisories/GHSA-5286-f2rf-35c2	Mitigation Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2023-28836 | Wagtail vulnerable to stored Cross-site Scripting attack via ModelAdmin views

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-28836

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-28836

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-28836

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-28836

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-28836

References for CVE-2023-28836