[1.6.x] Prevented views.static.serve() from using large memory on large files.

This is a security fix. Disclosure following shortly.

2 files changed, 30 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/releases/1.4.18.txt b/docs/releases/1.4.18.txt
index 2da42533bd..7c431cfa5a 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.4.18.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.4.18.txt
@@ -45,6 +45,21 @@ from a XSS attack. This bug doesn't affect Django currently, since we only put
 this URL into the ``Location`` response header and browsers seem to ignore
 JavaScript there.
 
+Denial-of-service attack against ``django.views.static.serve``
+==============================================================
+
+In older versions of Django, the :func:`django.views.static.serve` view read
+the files it served one line at a time. Therefore, a big file with no newlines
+would result in memory usage equal to the size of that file. An attacker could
+exploit this and launch a denial-of-service attack by simultaneously requesting
+many large files. This view now reads the file in chunks to prevent large
+memory usage.
+
+Note, however, that this view has always carried a warning that it is not
+hardened for production use and should be used only as a development aid. Now
+may be a good time to audit your project and serve your files in production
+using a real front-end web server if you are not doing so.
+
 Bugfixes
 ========
 
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.6.10.txt b/docs/releases/1.6.10.txt
index 92b709d25d..20aa595b77 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.6.10.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.6.10.txt
@@ -43,3 +43,18 @@ provide safe redirect targets and put such a URL into a link, they could suffer
 from a XSS attack. This bug doesn't affect Django currently, since we only put
 this URL into the ``Location`` response header and browsers seem to ignore
 JavaScript there.
+
+Denial-of-service attack against ``django.views.static.serve``
+==============================================================
+
+In older versions of Django, the :func:`django.views.static.serve` view read
+the files it served one line at a time. Therefore, a big file with no newlines
+would result in memory usage equal to the size of that file. An attacker could
+exploit this and launch a denial-of-service attack by simultaneously requesting
+many large files. This view now reads the file in chunks to prevent large
+memory usage.
+
+Note, however, that this view has always carried a warning that it is not
+hardened for production use and should be used only as a development aid. Now
+may be a good time to audit your project and serve your files in production
+using a real front-end web server if you are not doing so.