CVE-2020-36962
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 12.3.1 contains a CSV formula injection vulnerability in the contact form message field that allows attackers to inject malicious formulas during export. Attackers can submit crafted payloads like '=10+20+cmd|' /C calc'!A0' in the message field to trigger arbitrary command execution when the CSV is opened in spreadsheet applications.
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 · high confidenceTendenci 12.3.1 is vulnerable to CSV formula injection in the contact form message field. The application fails to sanitize or escape user-submitted input before exporting to CSV, allowing injection of spreadsheet formulas that execute arbitrary commands when the CSV file is opened in spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel.
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= 12.3.1CVSS 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.
-
Confirm installed Tendenci versionRun the command to check the installed Tendenci version (e.g., pip show tendenci or check the version file in your installation directory)Affected if The installed version is exactly 12.3.1
-
Verify contact form module is enabledCheck if the contact form feature is active in your Tendenci installation by reviewing the site configuration or Django settings for installed apps and active modulesAffected if The contact form module is enabled and accessible to users
-
Identify CSV export functionality for contact submissionsLocate the code or admin interface that handles exporting contact form submissions to CSV files - typically found in the admin panel under contact exports or in the codebase handling contact_form/views.py or contact_export functionsAffected if CSV export functionality exists and is accessible for contact form data
-
Test CSV output for proper escapingSubmit a test contact form with formula characters in the message field (e.g., =1+1, =CMD|'/C calc', @SUM(A1:A10)) and then export the submission to CSV; inspect the raw CSV file to see if characters are escaped (prefixed with apostrophe) or if formulas are passed through unchangedAffected if The exported CSV contains unescaped formula characters (=, +, -, @) that would be interpreted by spreadsheet software
You are affected if you are running Tendenci 12.3.1 with the contact form enabled and CSV export functionality present, and the CSV export does not escape formula characters in the message field.
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 dataImplement input validation to reject or escape formula characters (=, +, -, @, tab, carriage return) in the contact form message field, and/or apply proper escaping (prefixing with apostrophe or single quote) to all exported data during CSV generation to prevent formula interpretation.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-36962 — 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-2020-36962 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data