# CVE-2021-33203: Path Traversal in Django

> Staff members can exploit Django admindocs to check existence of arbitrary files, potentially reading contents if templates are customized.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 8 Jun 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** BIT-django-2021-33203, DEBIAN-CVE-2021-33203, GHSA-68w8-qjq3-2gfm, PYSEC-2021-98, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-33203, USN-4975-2

## What is CVE-2021-33203?

CVE-2021-33203 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Djangoproject Django, published on 8 Jun 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Django before 2.2.24, 3.x before 3.1.12, and 3.2.x before 3.2.4 has a potential directory traversal via django.contrib.admindocs. Staff members could use the TemplateDetailView view to check the existence of arbitrary files. Additionally, if (and only if) the default admindocs templates have been customized by application developers to also show file contents, then not only the existence but also the file contents would have been exposed. In other words, there is directory traversal outside of the template root directories.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-33203?

8 open source packages ship an affected version, including django and Django. It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `django` | Bitnami | All versions | 2.2.24, 3.1.12, 3.2.4 |
| `django` | PyPI | All versions | 2.2.24, 3.1.12, 3.2.4 |
| `django` | PyPI | All versions | 2.2.24 |
| `django` | PyPI | From 3.0 | 3.1.12 |
| `django` | PyPI | From 3.2 | 3.2.4 |
| `Django` | PyPI | All versions | 2.2.24 |
| `Django` | PyPI | From 3.0 | 3.1.12 |
| `Django` | PyPI | From 3.2 | 3.2.4 |

Products: Djangoproject Django, Fedoraproject Fedora.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-33203?

Upgrade django to a fixed version for your release line: 2.2.24, 3.1.12 or 3.2.4.

## Is CVE-2021-33203 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-33203 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Djangoproject Django

- [CVE-2026-4277](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-4277/): Privilege abuse in GenericInlineModelAdmin (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-53908](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53908/): Django SQL injection in HasKey(lhs, rhs) on Oracle (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-42005](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42005/): Django SQL injection vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-31047](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31047/): Django bypasses validation when using one form field to upload multiple files (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-34265](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-34265/): Django `Trunc()` and `Extract()` database functions vulnerable to SQL Injection (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-33203 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-33203 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Djangoproject Django, published on 8 Jun 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-33203 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- django (Bitnami): affected all versions; fixed in 2.2.24, 3.1.12, 3.2.4
- django (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 2.2.24, 3.1.12, 3.2.4
- django (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 2.2.24
- django (PyPI): affected from 3.0; fixed in 3.1.12
- django (PyPI): affected from 3.2; fixed in 3.2.4
- Django (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 2.2.24
- Django (PyPI): affected from 3.0; fixed in 3.1.12
- Django (PyPI): affected from 3.2; fixed in 3.2.4

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-33203/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-33203/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-33203
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-33203
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-33203

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-33203/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.