---
id: CVE-2023-25171
aliases:
  - GHSA-7j9h-3jxf-3vrf
  - PYSEC-2026-836
title: Denial of service vulnerability on Password reset page
summary: Denial of service vulnerability on Password reset page
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
vendor: kiwitcms
product: kiwitcms
ecosystem: pip
affected:
  - kiwitcms < 12.0
patched:
  - kiwitcms 12.0
published: '2023-02-15'
updated: '2026-09-10'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-10T03:49:52.030634944Z'
source: OSV
sourceUrl: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-7j9h-3jxf-3vrf'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/kiwitcms/Kiwi/security/advisories/GHSA-7j9h-3jxf-3vrf'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-25171'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/kiwitcms/Kiwi/commit/761305d04f5910ba14cc04d1255a8f1afdbb87f3
  - url: 'https://github.com/kiwitcms/Kiwi'
  - url: 'https://huntr.dev/bounties/3b712cb6-3fa3-4f71-8562-7a7016c6262e'
  - url: 'https://kiwitcms.org/blog/kiwi-tcms-team/2023/02/15/kiwi-tcms-120'
tags:
  - osv
  - pip
epss: 0.00916
epssPercentile: 0.58439
ingestedAt: '2026-07-08T18:25:47.033Z'
---

## Overview

### Impact
Previous versions of Kiwi TCMS do not impose rate limits which makes it easier to attempt denial-of-service attacks against the Password reset page. An attacker could potentially send a large number of emails if they know the email addresses of users in Kiwi TCMS. Additionally that may strain SMTP resources. 

### Patches
Users should upgrade to v12.0 or later.

### Workarounds
Users may install and configure a rate-limiting proxy in front of Kiwi TCMS such as Nginx and/or configure rate limits on their email server when possible.

### References
[Disclosed by Ahmed Rabeaa Mosaa](https://huntr.dev/bounties/3b712cb6-3fa3-4f71-8562-7a7016c6262e)


## Affected packages

- `kiwitcms < 12.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

- `kiwitcms 12.0`