RCE in Tendenci
CVE-2026-23946
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.
Vulnerability class: RCE (Remote Code Execution)
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 6.8 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.009 (56.6th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 57th percentile — 56.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.007 · newest: 0.009 · change: +0.001
Affected products
- Tendenci — versions < 15.3.12
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- github.com/tendenci/tendenci/security/advisories/GHSA-339m-4qw5-j2g3 (Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
- github.com/tendenci/tendenci/issues/867 (Exploit, Patch, Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory)
- github.com/tendenci/tendenci/commit/23d9fd85ab7654e9c83cfc86cb4175c0bd7a77f1 (Patch)
- github.com/tendenci/tendenci/commit/2ff0a457614944a1b417081c543ea4c5bb95d636 (Patch)
- github.com/tendenci/tendenci/commit/63e1b84a5b163466d1d8d811d35e7021a7ca0d0e (Patch)
- docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html (Not Applicable)
- github.com/advisories/GHSA-jqmc-fxxp-r589 (Not Applicable)
- github.com/tendenci/tendenci/releases/tag/v15.3.12 (Release Notes)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-23946?
- CVE-2026-23946 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Tendenci, classified under Code Injection. CVSS score: 6.8/10. Published 2026-01-22.
- How severe is CVE-2026-23946?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.8 out of 10.