Microsoft AuthenticationApplication · Discourse

CVE-2023-46241

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2024-02-20 or later.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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-microsoft-auth` is a plugin that enables authentication via Microsoft. On sites with the `discourse-microsoft-auth` plugin enabled, an attack can potentially take control of a victim's Discourse account. Sites that have configured their application's account type to any options other than `Accounts in this organizational directory only (O365 only - Single tenant)` are vulnerable. This vulnerability has been patched in commit c40665f44509724b64938c85def9fb2e79f62ec8 of `discourse-microsoft-auth`. A `microsoft_auth:revoke` rake task has also been added which will deactivate and log out all users that have connected their accounts to Microsoft. User API keys as well as API keys created by those users will also be revoked. The rake task will also remove the connection records to Microsoft for those users. This will allow affected users to re-verify their account emails as well as reconnect their Discourse account to Microsoft for authentication. As a workaround, disable the `discourse-microsoft-auth` plugin by setting the `microsoft_auth_enabled` site setting to `false`. Run the `microsoft_auth:log_out_users` rake task to log out all users with associated Microsoft accounts.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-863

An authorization check exists but is flawed, so it passes when it should fail. Attackers probe roles and object references to find the gap. Remediation means centralising and correctly implementing the access-control logic, then testing it against every role.

General guidance for the incorrect authorization class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Microsoft AuthenticationApplication
Affected:< 2024-02-20

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 2024-02-20 or later
Fixed in 2024-02-20
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

discourse-microsoft-auth plugin version released on or after 2024-02-20

  1. Upgrade the discourse-microsoft-auth plugin to a version released on or after 2024-02-20 which contains the security fix from commit c40665f44509724b64938c85def9fb2e79f62ec8
  2. After upgrading, run the `microsoft_auth:revake` rake task to deactivate and log out all users who have connected their accounts to Microsoft, revoke their User API keys and API keys created by those users, and remove connection records to Microsoft for those users
  3. Alternatively, if immediate upgrade is not possible: 1) Disable the discourse-microsoft-auth plugin by setting the `microsoft_auth_enabled` site setting to `false`, 2) Run the `microsoft_auth:log_out_users` rake task to log out all users with associated Microsoft accounts
  4. After running the rake tasks, affected users will need to re-verify their account emails and reconnect their Discourse account to Microsoft for authentication
Caveat Users who connected their Microsoft accounts will need to re-verify their email addresses and reconnect their Discourse account to Microsoft for authentication

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

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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-2023-46241 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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