Service interrupt via cyclic plugin reparenting
Published Aug 20, 2026 · Updated Aug 20, 2026
Denial of service in django CMS before 5.0.8 allows remote authenticated users to hang requests via cyclic plugin reparenting. The move_plugin admin endpoint in cms/admin/placeholderadmin.py accepts a plugin_parent value that can point to the moved plugin itself or one of its descendants, creating a parent_id cycle that the recursive _get_descendants_cte and _get_ancestors_cte queries in cms/models/pluginmodel.py do not detect. Exploitation requires a staff account with plugin-change permission under CMS_PERMISSION, and subsequent render, copy, or delete operations on the corrupted subtree can stall workers or hit database recursion limits while leaving the tree corrupted.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in django CMS before 5.0.8 allows remote authenticated users to hang requests via cyclic plugin reparenting. The move_plugin admin endpoint in cms/admin/placeholderadmin.py accepts a plugin_parent value that can point to the moved plugin itself or one of its descendants, creating a parent_id cycle that the recursive _get_descendants_cte and _get_ancestors_cte queries in cms/models/pluginmodel.py do not detect. Exploitation requires a staff account with plugin-change permission under CMS_PERMISSION, and subsequent render, copy, or delete operations on the corrupted subtree can stall workers or hit database recursion limits while leaving the tree corrupted.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-54623
- Published
- Aug 20, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 20, 2026
- Vendor
- django CMS Association
- Product
- django CMS
- Classifications
- CWE-835, CWE-674, T1499
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 20, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 20, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 5.0.8
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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