DiscourseApplication

CVE-2024-56328

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.3.3 / 3.4.0 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 platform for community discussion. An attacker can execute arbitrary JavaScript on users' browsers by posting a maliciously crafted onebox url. This issue only affects sites with CSP disabled. This problem has been patched in the latest version of Discourse. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should enable CSP, disable inline Oneboxes globally, or allow specific domains for Oneboxing.

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

Discourse is vulnerable to stored XSS via maliciously crafted onebox URLs that allow arbitrary JavaScript execution in user browsers. The vulnerability only affects Discourse instances with Content Security Policy (CSP) disabled, making it a conditional but exploitable vector for authenticated attackers posting content.

MitigationEnable Content Security Policy (CSP) to block inline script execution, disable inline Oneboxes globally, or restrict Oneboxing to specific trusted domains. Alternatively, upgrade to the latest patched Discourse version.

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:< 3.3.3< 3.4.0= 3.4.0

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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
    Access the Discourse admin panel and navigate to /about or use the Discourse console command to retrieve the current version number
    Affected if Version is below 3.3.3, or between 3.3.3 and 3.4.0 exclusive, or exactly 3.4.0
  2. Verify Content Security Policy status
    Check the Discourse site settings for Content-Security-Policy headers. In the admin panel, navigate to Security settings or inspect HTTP headers on any page response for 'Content-Security-Policy'
    Affected if CSP is disabled or not configured, meaning no CSP headers are served
  3. Confirm Onebox feature is enabled
    Check Discourse site settings for Onebox-related configuration. Look for settings like 'enable_onebox' or allowlisting of domains for Oneboxing in the admin settings
    Affected if Oneboxing is enabled and accessible to authenticated users posting content
  4. Verify user content submission is possible
    Confirm that authenticated users can post content containing URLs. Check if the site allows new posts, topics, or messages from logged-in users
    Affected if Authenticated users can submit posts containing external URLs that get Oneboxed

A user is affected if their Discourse version falls within the vulnerable range AND CSP is disabled AND the Onebox feature is available to authenticated users posting content.

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 3.3.3 / 3.4.0 or later
Fixed in 3.3.33.4.0
Interim mitigation

Enable Content Security Policy (CSP) to block inline script execution, disable inline Oneboxes globally, or restrict Oneboxing to specific trusted domains. Alternatively, upgrade to the latest patched Discourse version.

Recommended fix High confidence

Latest stable Discourse release (version > 3.4.0)

  1. 1. Backup your Discourse installation and database before upgrading
  2. 2. Update Discourse to the latest stable release using your current installation method (e.g., ./discourse-upgrade for Docker installations)
  3. 3. After upgrading, verify the version number matches the patched release
  4. 4. Confirm the onebox functionality works correctly with the patch applied

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

Fix this in Discourse Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-56328 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2024-56328 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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