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Medium

Tendenci has Authenticated Remote Code Execution via Pickle Deserialization

Type: advisorySources: OSV

Tendenci is an open source content management system built for non-profits, associations and cause-based sites. Versions 15.3.11 and below include a critical deserialization vulnerability in the Helpdesk module (which is not enabled by default). This vulnerability allows Remote Code Execution (RCE) by an authenticated user with staff security level due to using Python's pickle module in helpdesk /reports/. The original CVE-2020-14942 was incompletely patched. While ticket_list() was fixed to use safe JSON deserialization, the run_report() function still uses unsafe pickle.loads(). The impact is limited to the permissions of the user running the application, typically www-data, which generally lacks write (except for upload directories) and execute permissions. This issue has been fixed in version 15.3.12.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2026-23946
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
2 Nov 2026, 15:29 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

Tendenci has Authenticated Remote Code Execution via Pickle Deserialization

core-osv · Original source

Published 22 Jan 2026, 00:09 UTC

Tendenci is an open source content management system built for non-profits, associations and cause-based sites. Versions 15.3.11 and below include a critical deserialization vulnerability in the Helpdesk module (which is not enabled by default). This vulnerability allows Remote Code Execution (RCE) by an authenticated user with staff security level due to using Python's pickle module in helpdesk /reports/. The original CVE-2020-14942 was incompletely patched. While ticket_list() was fixed to use safe JSON deserialization, the run_report() function still uses unsafe pickle.loads(). The impact is limited to the permissions of the user running the application, typically www-data, which generally lacks write (except for upload directories) and execute permissions. This issue has been fixed in version 15.3.12.

osv:CVE-2026-23946
Complete source record
{
  "id": "49c793a50717614b579aa3c7e8c28f954fbf916cc06fb66b63a641359770ec6f",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23946",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "Tendenci has Authenticated Remote Code Execution via Pickle Deserialization",
    "summary": "Tendenci is an open source content management system built for non-profits, associations and cause-based sites. Versions 15.3.11 and below include a critical deserialization vulnerability in the Helpdesk module (which is not enabled by default). This vulnerability allows Remote Code Execution (RCE) by an authenticated user with staff security level due to using Python's pickle module in helpdesk /reports/. The original CVE-2020-14942 was incompletely patched. While ticket_list() was fixed to use safe JSON deserialization, the run_report() function still uses unsafe pickle.loads(). The impact is limited to the permissions of the user running the application, typically www-data, which generally lacks write (except for upload directories) and execute permissions. This issue has been fixed in version 15.3.12.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2026-23946",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2026-23946",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2026-23946",
        "GHSA-339m-4qw5-j2g3",
        "PYSEC-2026-1950"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "2862cc70592ed056b8380a3167b6006cc0cf79d2"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "23d9fd85ab7654e9c83cfc86cb4175c0bd7a77f1"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "2ff0a457614944a1b417081c543ea4c5bb95d636"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "63e1b84a5b163466d1d8d811d35e7021a7ca0d0e"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:tendenci:tendenci:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "15.3.12"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "23d9fd85ab7654e9c83cfc86cb4175c0bd7a77f1"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "2ff0a457614944a1b417081c543ea4c5bb95d636"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "63e1b84a5b163466d1d8d811d35e7021a7ca0d0e"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "2862cc70592ed056b8380a3167b6006cc0cf79d2"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_TAG",
                    "original_tag": "v15.3.12"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
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            "v15.3.10",
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            "v12.0",
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          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-23946.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:20.446241684Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html#restricting-globals",
        "https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci/releases/tag/v15.3.12",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/23xxx/CVE-2026-23946.json",
        "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-jqmc-fxxp-r589",
        "https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci/security/advisories/GHSA-339m-4qw5-j2g3",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23946",
        "https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci/issues/867",
        "https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci/commit/23d9fd85ab7654e9c83cfc86cb4175c0bd7a77f1",
        "https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci/commit/2ff0a457614944a1b417081c543ea4c5bb95d636",
        "https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci/commit/63e1b84a5b163466d1d8d811d35e7021a7ca0d0e"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-502",
          "CWE-94"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/23xxx/CVE-2026-23946.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2026-23946",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 486533,
  "published_at": "2026-01-22T00:09:24.205+00:00"
}