CVE-2020-14942
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedTendenci 12.0.10 allows unrestricted deserialization in apps\helpdesk\views\staff.py.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceTendenci 12.0.10 contains an unrestricted deserialization vulnerability in apps\helpdesk\views\staff.py. This allows attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code by supplying malicious serialized objects that get deserialized without proper validation.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 12.0.10CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Tendenci versionRun 'pip show tendenci' or check your requirements.txt for the installed Tendenci version. Also check the tendenci/__init__.py or version.py file.Affected if The installed version is exactly 12.0.10 (the only affected version)
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Confirm helpdesk app is enabledCheck your Django settings.py for 'tendenci.apps.helpdesk' or 'helpdesk' in the INSTALLED_APPS list.Affected if The helpdesk app is installed and enabled in the Django project configuration
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Inspect the vulnerable fileLocate and examine the file at apps/helpdesk/views/staff.py in your Tendenci installation directory. Look for uses of pickle.loads(), yaml.load(), or similar deserialization functions.Affected if The file exists and contains deserialization calls (e.g., pickle.loads, yaml.load) without type checking or validation
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Check for user input reaching deserializationTrace the code flow in staff.py to determine if user-supplied data (request parameters, uploaded files) is passed to the deserialization function.Affected if User-controllable data reaches the unsafe deserialization function without validation
You are affected if you run Tendenci version 12.0.10, have the helpdesk app enabled, and the vulnerable deserialization code in staff.py can receive untrusted input.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataRestrict deserialization to trusted data sources only. Implement input validation and use safe serialization formats (e.g., JSON) rather than pickle or similar unsafe deserializers. Alternatively, implement object type checking/allowlisting before deserialization.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-14942 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-14942 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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