Summary
Session key exposure through session list in Django User Sessions
Workarounds
Remove the session_key from the template.
References
None.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in Bouke/django-user-sessions
- Email us at [email protected]
Impact
The views provided by django-user-sessions allow users to terminate specific sessions. The session key is used to identify sessions, and thus included in the rendered HTML. In itself this is not a problem. However if the website has an XSS vulnerability, the session key could be extracted by the attacker and a session takeover could happen.
The application does not adequately verify the identity of a user, device, or process before granting access. Typical impact: unauthorized access to functions or data reserved for authenticated parties.
CVE-2020-5224 has a CVSS score of 6.5 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.7.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Patch is under way.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2020-5224? CVE-2020-5224 is a medium-severity improper authentication vulnerability in django-user-sessions (pip), affecting versions < 1.7.1. It is fixed in 1.7.1. The application does not adequately verify the identity of a user, device, or process before granting access.
- How severe is CVE-2020-5224? CVE-2020-5224 has a CVSS score of 6.5 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of django-user-sessions are affected by CVE-2020-5224? django-user-sessions (pip) versions < 1.7.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2020-5224? Yes. CVE-2020-5224 is fixed in 1.7.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2020-5224 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2020-5224 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2020-5224 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2020-5224? Upgrade
django-user-sessionsto 1.7.1 or later.