CVE-2021-3281 Django Directory Traversal via archive.extract

What is CVE-2021-3281?

CVE-2021-3281 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Djangoproject Django, published on 2 Feb 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In Django 2.2 before 2.2.18, 3.0 before 3.0.12, and 3.1 before 3.1.6, the django.utils.archive.extract method (used by "startapp --template" and "startproject --template") allows directory traversal via an archive with absolute paths or relative paths with dot segments.

Weakness: CWE-22

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-3281?

8 open source packages ship an affected version, including django and Django. It affects 3 products.

Products include Djangoproject Django, Fedoraproject Fedora, Netapp Snapcenter.

How do I fix CVE-2021-3281?

Upgrade django to a fixed version for your release line: 2.2.18, 3.0.12 or 3.1.6.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2021-3281 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3281 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.

Other vulnerabilities in Djangoproject Django

• CVE-2026-4277 Privilege abuse in GenericInlineModelAdmin Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-53908 Django SQL injection in HasKey(lhs, rhs) on Oracle Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-42005 Django SQL injection vulnerability Critical 9.8
• CVE-2023-31047 Django bypasses validation when using one form field to upload multiple files Critical 9.8
• CVE-2022-34265 Django `Trunc()` and `Extract()` database functions vulnerable to SQL Injection Critical 9.8

All Djangoproject Django vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BIT-django-2021-3281, DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3281, DLA-2540-1, GHSA-fvgf-6h6h-3322, PYSEC-2021-9, SUSE-RU-2021:0497-1 and 3 more.