# CVE-2026-54261: Wagtail: Improper permission handling in image preview

> An authenticated admin user can view any image preview due to missing permission checks, exposing image data to unauthorized admins.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 2 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-r6p4-grq7-xm4m, PYSEC-2026-614

## What is CVE-2026-54261?

CVE-2026-54261 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in wagtail, published on 1 Jul 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Wagtail is an open source content management system built on Django. In versions prior to 7.0.8, 7.3.3 and 7.4.2, due to a missing permission check on the image preview endpoint, a user with access to the Wagtail admin can preview any image. The existing data of the image object itself is not exposed. The vulnerability is not exploitable by an ordinary site visitor without access to the Wagtail admin. This issue has been fixed in versions 7.0.8, 7.3.3, and 7.4.2.

Weakness: CWE-280 (Improper Handling of Insufficient Permissions or Privileges)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-54261?

7 open source packages ship an affected version, including wagtail. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `wagtail` | PyPI | All versions | 7.0.8, 7.3.3, 7.4.2 |
| `wagtail` | PyPI | All versions | 7.0.8 |
| `wagtail` | PyPI | All versions | 7.0.8 |
| `wagtail` | PyPI | From 7.1 | 7.3.3 |
| `wagtail` | PyPI | From 7.1 | 7.3.3 |
| `wagtail` | PyPI | From 7.4 | 7.4.2 |
| `wagtail` | PyPI | From 7.4 | 7.4.2 |

Products: Torchbox Wagtail.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-54261?

Upgrade wagtail to a fixed version for your release line: 7.0.8, 7.3.3 or 7.4.2.

## Is CVE-2026-54261 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-54261 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in wagtail

- [CVE-2026-54263](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-54263/): Wagtail: Reflected XSS in dynamic image URL generator view (high 7.3)
- [CVE-2026-44197](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-44197/): Wagtail: Improper permission handling when comparing revisions (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2026-44199](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-44199/): Wagtail: Improper permission handling when deleting form submissions (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2026-44200](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-44200/): Wagtail: Improper permission handling when copying pages (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2024-39317](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-39317/): Wagtail regular expression denial-of-service via search query parsing (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-54261 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-54261 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in wagtail, published on 1 Jul 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-54261 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- wagtail (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 7.0.8, 7.3.3, 7.4.2
- wagtail (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 7.0.8
- wagtail (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 7.0.8
- wagtail (PyPI): affected from 7.1; fixed in 7.3.3
- wagtail (PyPI): affected from 7.1; fixed in 7.3.3
- wagtail (PyPI): affected from 7.4; fixed in 7.4.2
- wagtail (PyPI): affected from 7.4; fixed in 7.4.2

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-2026-54261/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-54261/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-54261
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54261
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-54261

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-54261/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.