CVE-2025-45388: XSS (CVSS 6.1)

Description

Wagtail CMS 6.4.1 is vulnerable to a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in the document upload functionality. Attackers can inject malicious code inside a PDF file. When a user clicks the document in the CMS interface, the payload executes. NOTE: this is disputed by the Supplier because "It has been well documented that when serving uploaded files using a method outside of Wagtail (which admittedly is the default), it requires additional configuration from the developer, because Wagtail cannot control how these are served. ... For example, if a Wagtail instance is configured to upload files into AWS S3, Wagtail cannot control the permissions on how they're served, nor any headers used when serving them (a limitation of S3)."

Is your site exposed to CVE-2025-45388?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

6.1

MEDIUM

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

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-79 Cross-site Scripting (XSS)

References

Other References

https://docs.wagtail.org/en/stable/deployment/under_the_hood.html#documents https://github.com/echoBRT/Wagtail-CMS-XSS/ https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/discussions/12617 https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/pull/12672 https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/wiki/Security-team https://github.com/echoBRT/Wagtail-CMS-XSS/

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-45388? +

Wagtail CMS 6.4.1 is vulnerable to a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in the document upload functionality. Attackers can inject malicious code inside a PDF file. When a user clicks the document in the CMS interface, the payload executes. NOTE: this is disputed by the Supplier because "It has been well documented that when serving uploaded files using a method outside of Wagtail (which admittedly is the default), it requires additional configuration from the developer, because Wagtail cannot control how these are served. ... For example, if a Wagtail instance is configured to upload files into AWS S3, Wagtail cannot control the permissions on how they're served, nor any headers used when serving them (a limitation of S3)." It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.1 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2025-45388? +

CVE-2025-45388 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.1 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2025-45388? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-40282

WeGIA is a web manager for charitable institutions. In versions prior to 3.6.10, a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability allows …

CVE-2026-66824

A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability existed in the capture tree visualization page. The application embedded the serialized capture tree directly …

CVE-2026-3317

Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Navigate Content Management System. The vulnerability is present in the '/blog' endpoint because user …

CVE-2025-10354

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability reflected in Semantic MediaWiki. This vulnerability allows an attacker to execute JavaScript code in the victim's …

CVE-2026-41456

Bludit CMS prior to commit 6732dde contains a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability in the search plugin that allows unauthenticated attackers …

CVE-2026-40872

mailcow: dockerized is an open source groupware/email suite based on docker. In versions prior to 2026-03b, the admin dashboard's Autodiscover …

CVE-2025-45388