CVE-2023-32321: CKAN remote code execution and private information access via crafted resource ids

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-05-26 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-20

Description

CKAN is an open-source data management system for powering data hubs and data portals. Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Ckan which may lead to remote code execution. An arbitrary file write in `resource_create` and `package_update` actions, using the `ResourceUploader` object. Also reachable via `package_create`, `package_revise`, and `package_patch` via calls to `package_update`. Remote code execution via unsafe pickle loading, via Beaker's session store when configured to use the file session store backend. Potential DOS due to lack of a length check on the resource id. Information disclosure: A user with permission to create a resource can access any other resource on the system if they know the id, even if they don't have access to it. Resource overwrite: A user with permission to create a resource can overwrite any resource if they know the id, even if they don't have access to it. A user with permissions to create or edit a dataset can upload a resource with a specially crafted id to write the uploaded file in an arbitrary location. This can be leveraged to Remote Code Execution via Beaker's insecure pickle loading. All the above listed vulnerabilities have been fixed in CKAN 2.9.9 and CKAN 2.10.1. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for these issues.

Affected products

ckan: from 2.9.0 before 2.9.9; 2.10.0 — fixed in 2.9.9

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: ckan 2.9.9. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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