CVE-2026-42196
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 · unediteddjango-s3file is a lightweight file upload input for Django and Amazon S3. Prior to 7.0.2, S3FileMiddleware is vulnerable to relative path traversal attacks, where an attacker can use a modified request to escape pre-signed upload locations and have the Django application load files from random locations into request.FILES. Depending on how files are handled, this may lead to confidentiality and integrity issues. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.0.2.
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 confidencedjango-s3file's S3FileMiddleware contains a relative path traversal vulnerability allowing attackers to modify requests and escape pre-signed upload locations. This forces the Django application to load files from arbitrary system locations into request.FILES, potentially exposing sensitive files or enabling code execution depending on downstream file handling.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS 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
- Authentication
- X
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- X
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
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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Identify django-s3file installation and versionRun 'pip show django-s3file' or check your requirements.txt/poetry.lock for the installed version of django-s3fileAffected if The installed version is lower than 7.0.2 (e.g., 7.0.1, 7.0.0, or earlier)
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Verify S3FileMiddleware is enabledCheck your Django settings.py for 's3file.middleware.S3FileMiddleware' in the MIDDLEWARE or MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES settingAffected if S3FileMiddleware is present and enabled in the Django configuration
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Confirm file upload handling is in useSearch your Django project for views that process request.FILES, form handling with FileField, or file upload views using multipart form dataAffected if The application processes file uploads through request.FILES and uses django-s3file for S3 handling
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Check for path traversal mitigation in upload logicInspect the code that handles uploaded files - look for whether filenames are sanitized before use, especially for path components like '..' or absolute pathsAffected if Uploaded file paths are not validated and can contain relative path traversal sequences
You are affected if django-s3file version is below 7.0.2 AND S3FileMiddleware is enabled AND your application processes file uploads from request.FILES.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade django-s3file to version 7.0.2 or later. Audit all code handling request.FILES to ensure files from untrusted sources are not processed in security-sensitive ways.
7.0.2
- Check the currently installed version of django-s3file using pip show django-s3file or requirements file inspection
- Upgrade django-s3file to version 7.0.2 or later using: pip install django-s3file>=7.0.2
- Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the installed version
- Test the application to ensure file uploads still function correctly after the upgrade
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,840.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-42196 — 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-2026-42196 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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- 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