Tendenci is Vulnerable to CSV Formula Injection through its Contact Form Message Field

CVE-2020-36962 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

Tendenci 12.3.1 contains a CSV formula injection vulnerability in the contact form message field that allows attackers to inject malicious formulas during export. Attackers can submit crafted payloads like '=10+20+cmd|' /C calc'!A0' in the message field to trigger arbitrary command execution when the CSV is opened in spreadsheet applications.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
—
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-01-28 18:30:48 UTC
Updated
2026-06-09 20:50:37 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-06-09 20:50:33 UTC
NVD published
2026-01-28

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.35% 57.51%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
9.8 3.1 —
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
5.3 4.0 —
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:P)
A user has to participate (for example click/open/approve).
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:L)
Limited confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:L)
Limited integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:N)
No availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-4q3w-jgfx-4792 ↗
CVE CVE-2020-36962 ↗

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-1236 Improper Neutralization of Formula Elements in a CSV File

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
pip tendenci < 12.3.2 12.3.2 —

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence