CVE-2025-64459 - Critical SQL Injection Vulnerability in Django QuerySet Methods – How Attackers Could Exploit Your App

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Django is one of the world's most popular web frameworks for Python, trusted by countless websites for its emphasis on security and simplicity. Unfortunately, vulnerabilities can appear anywhere, and CVE-2025-64459 is a big one. This recently disclosed bug exposes many Django projects to a serious SQL injection risk, especially if developers use certain ways to filter database data.

In this article, I’ll break down what happened, show you how the vulnerability works, give code samples, and explain how attackers might exploit it. If you use Django, especially versions 4.2, 5.1, or 5.2, you *need* to read this and take action.

And the Q() class for complex queries

If these are used with a dictionary expansion where a special argument called _connector is set, attackers could inject SQL code right into your queries. This means they could read, modify, or destroy your database!

> Note: Earlier and unsupported Django versions like 5..x, 4.1.x, and 3.2.x were *not* officially checked by Django, but could also be affected.

How Does the Vulnerability Work?

Django’s ORM lets us build database queries using Python, which normally protects against SQL injection. But if you pass user input directly through the special _connector argument using **dict, you might break Django’s protections.

Here’s what an unsafe code block might look like

# Suppose user_data comes from a user POST request
user_data = {"id": 1, "_connector": "OR"}

# This could be in your view:
results = MyModel.objects.filter(**user_data)

If an attacker controls user_data, they can inject dangerous values for _connector (like SQL fragments), causing Django to build a malicious query.

_connector tells Django how to join query conditions (like AND or OR).

- If unchecked, it can be abused to mess with the SQL Django generates — the root cause of an SQLi vulnerability.

Suppose you have code like this

def search(request):
    filters = request.GET.dict()  # WARNING: Never do this with user data!
    return MyModel.objects.filter(**filters)

An attacker could send

/search?id=1&_connector=) OR 1=1 --

This could result in a database query like

SELECT * FROM mymodel WHERE (id = 1) OR 1=1 --;

The -- comments out the rest of the SQL line.

Now they have *full access* to your database table!

If you use 5.2, update to 5.2.8 or later

- Don't use dictionary expansion (</b>user_input) directly from user data** in .filter(), .exclude(), .get(), or Q().

Safe filtering example

allowed_fields = ['id', 'username']
filters = {k: v for k, v in request.GET.items() if k in allowed_fields}
results = MyModel.objects.filter(**filters)

Official References & Resources

- Django Security Advisory – CVE-2025-64459
- Django Documentation – QuerySet API
- GitHub Security Advisory for Django *(Adjust for the real link once posted)*

Final Thoughts

This is a real, critical flaw. If your Django app uses dictionary expansion with user data, you’re exposed to one of the worst classes of bugs: SQL injection.

> Upgrade now.
> Don’t expand user dictionaries in your queries!
> Always follow Django’s security best practices.

For more detailed technical breakdowns, you can read the official Django security advisory.

Stay safe and secure!

*This article is exclusive – you won’t find this breakdown anywhere else in plain language. Share it with your team to keep everyone up to date.*

Timeline

Published on: 11/05/2025 15:15:41 UTC
Last modified on: 11/10/2025 18:25:59 UTC