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DiscourseApplication

CVE-2023-34250

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-06-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.0.4 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.0.4 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta5 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, an attacker could use the new topics dismissal endpoint to reveal the number of topics recently created (but not the actual content thereof) in categories they didn't have access to. This issue is patched in version 3.0.4 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta5 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. There are no known workarounds.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A vulnerability in Discourse's new topics dismissal endpoint allows authenticated users to discover the count of recently created topics in categories they don't have access to, revealing metadata about protected content without accessing the actual content.

MitigationUpgrade Discourse to version 3.0.4 (stable branch) or version 3.1.0.beta5 (beta/tests-passed branches) or later to patch this information disclosure vulnerability.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
DiscourseApplication
Affected:< 3.0.4= 3.1.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Discourse version
    Locate the Discourse version number in the admin dashboard (under /admin/about) or check the VERSION file in the Discourse installation directory
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 3.0.4 or exactly equals 3.1.0
  2. Verify authentication is enabled
    Confirm that the Discourse instance requires user authentication and that user accounts can be created or provisioned
    Affected if The site allows authenticated users to access the platform (default configuration)
  3. Check for restricted or private categories
    Review the category configuration in the admin panel under /admin/categories to identify any categories with restricted access permissions
    Affected if There exist categories with permission settings that limit access to certain user groups
  4. Test the new topics dismissal endpoint
    Use a low-privilege authenticated user account to make a request to the topics dismissal endpoint (typically /topics/timings or related API endpoint) and observe if category-specific topic counts are returned for restricted categories
    Affected if The endpoint returns topic counts for categories the test user does not have access to, exposing metadata about protected content

You are affected if your installed Discourse version is below 3.0.4 or exactly 3.1.0 AND your instance has authenticated users with varying category access permissions.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.0.4 or later
Fixed in 3.0.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Discourse to version 3.0.4 (stable branch) or version 3.1.0.beta5 (beta/tests-passed branches) or later to patch this information disclosure vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

3.0.4 (stable branch) or 3.1.0.beta5 (beta/tests-passed branches)

  1. 1. Back up your Discourse instance database and uploaded files before proceeding
  2. 2. For the stable branch: upgrade to version 3.0.4 or later
  3. 3. For the beta or tests-passed branches: upgrade to version 3.1.0.beta5 or later
  4. 4. After upgrade, verify the new topics dismissal endpoint no longer exposes topic counts for unauthorized categories
  5. 5. Test that normal functionality (dismissing topics user has access to) still works correctly

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Discourse Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-34250 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data