How severe is CVE-2018-7537?

CVE-2018-7537 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.3, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability low.

Is CVE-2018-7537 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 5% (91st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2018-7537?

CVE-2018-7537 primarily affects Djangoproject Django. In total, 7 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2018-7537?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2018-7537 published?

CVE-2018-7537 was published on 2018-03-09 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2018-7537

CVE-2018-7537 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Djangoproject Django with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.3. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-185.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 5.3)
CVSS v2: 5.0
EPSS exploit prediction: 5% (91st percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-185
Affected product: Djangoproject Django
Published: 2018-03-09
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

An issue was discovered in Django 2.0 before 2.0.3, 1.11 before 1.11.11, and 1.8 before 1.8.19. If django.utils.text.Truncator's chars() and words() methods were passed the html=True argument, they were extremely slow to evaluate certain inputs due to a catastrophic backtracking vulnerability in a regular expression. The chars() and words() methods are used to implement the truncatechars_html and truncatewords_html template filters, which were thus vulnerable.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-7537?: An issue was discovered in Django 2.0 before 2.0.3, 1.11 before 1.11.11, and 1.8 before 1.8.19. If django.utils.text.Truncator's chars() and words() methods were passed the html=True argument, they were extremely slow to evaluate certain inputs due to a catastrophic backtracking vulnerability in a regular expression. The chars() and words() methods are used to implement the truncatechars_html and truncatewords_html template filters, which were thus vulnerable.
How severe is CVE-2018-7537?: CVE-2018-7537 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.3, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability low.
Is CVE-2018-7537 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 5% (91st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2018-7537?: CVE-2018-7537 primarily affects Djangoproject Django. In total, 7 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2018-7537?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2018-7537 published?: CVE-2018-7537 was published on 2018-03-09 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (7)

cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:17.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:djangoproject:django:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Djangoproject Django

CVE-2014-0474 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The (1) FilePathField, (2) GenericIPAddressField, and (3) IPAddressField model field classes in Django before 1.4.11,…
CVE-2026-4277 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in 6.0 before 6.0.4, 5.2 before 5.2.13, and 4.2 before 4.2.30. Add permissions on inline model…
CVE-2024-53908 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in Django 5.1 before 5.1.4, 5.0 before 5.0.10, and 4.2 before 4.2.17. Direct usage of the…
CVE-2023-31047 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In Django 3.2 before 3.2.19, 4.x before 4.1.9, and 4.2 before 4.2.1, it was possible to bypass validation when using…
CVE-2022-34265 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in Django 3.2 before 3.2.14 and 4.0 before 4.0.6. The Trunc() and Extract() database functions…
CVE-2022-28347 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): A SQL injection issue was discovered in QuerySet.explain() in Django 2.2 before 2.2.28, 3.2 before 3.2.13, and 4.0…

All CVEs affecting Djangoproject Django →

Other CWE-185 vulnerabilities

CVE-2024-52289 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): authentik is an open-source identity provider. Redirect URIs in the OAuth2 provider in authentik are checked by RegEx…
CVE-2019-12798 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in Artifex MuJS 1.0.5. regcompx in regexp.c does not restrict regular expression program size,…
CVE-2026-25896 — Critical (CVSS 9.3): fast-xml-parser allows users to validate XML, parse XML to JS object, or build XML from JS object without C/C++ based…
CVE-2026-4296 — High (CVSS 8.8): An incorrect regular expression vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an attacker to…
CVE-2018-17984 — High (CVSS 7.8): An unanchored /[a-z]{2}/ regular expression in ISPConfig before 3.1.13 makes it possible to include arbitrary files,…
CVE-2026-33418 — High (CVSS 7.5): DiceBear is an avatar library for designers and developers. Prior to version 9.4.2, the `ensureSize()` function in…

Browse all CWE-185 vulnerabilities →