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DiscourseApplication

CVE-2025-49845

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.4.6 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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. The visibility of posts typed `whisper` is controlled via the `whispers_allowed_groups` site setting. Only users that belong to groups specified in the site setting are allowed to view posts typed `whisper`. However, it has been discovered that users of versions prior to 3.4.6 on the `stable` branch and prior to 3.5.0.beta8-dev on the `tests-passed` branch can continue to see their own whispers even after losing visibility of posts typed `whisper`. This issue is patched in versions 3.4.6 and 3.5.0.beta8-dev. No known workarounds are available.

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 broken access control vulnerability in Discourse allows users to continue viewing their own 'whisper' posts even after being removed from groups authorized via the whispers_allowed_groups site setting. The authorization check fails to properly revoke visibility for previously accessible whispers.

MitigationUpgrade Discourse to version 3.4.6 (stable) or 3.5.0.beta8-dev (tests-passed). No workarounds exist.

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:< 3.4.6

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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. Check installed Discourse version
    Navigate to /admin about or check the version file in your Discourse installation directory. On hosted instances, go to Admin > About in the web interface.
    Affected if The installed version is below 3.4.6 (for stable) or 3.5.0.beta8-dev (for tests-passed)
  2. Verify whispers_allowed_groups is configured
    In the Discourse admin panel, go to Site Settings and search for 'whisper'. Check if whispers_allowed_groups is set to any value (not empty or disabled).
    Affected if whispers_allowed_groups has one or more groups configured, enabling the whisper feature
  3. Identify users previously granted whisper access
    Review the whispers_allowed_groups setting to see which group IDs are authorized, then query your user membership records to find users who were members of these groups but are no longer members.
    Affected if There exist users who were previously members of whisper-authorized groups but have since been removed from those groups
  4. Check for existing whisper posts by removed users
    Query the database or use the API to find whisper posts created by users who are no longer members of the whispers_allowed_groups.
    Affected if Whisper posts exist in the database authored by users who are currently not members of the authorized groups

You are affected if your Discourse version is below 3.4.6 AND whispers_allowed_groups is configured with at least one group, AND there are users who were previously in those groups but are now removed.

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 3.4.6 or later
Fixed in 3.4.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Discourse to version 3.4.6 (stable) or 3.5.0.beta8-dev (tests-passed). No workarounds exist.

Recommended fix High confidence

Discourse 3.4.6 (stable branch) or 3.5.0.beta8-dev (tests-passed branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current Discourse version by checking the /admin/about page or running `git log -1` in the Discourse directory
  2. 2. Identify which branch is in use (stable or tests-passed)
  3. 3. If using the stable branch and version is less than 3.4.6, upgrade to version 3.4.6
  4. 4. If using the tests-passed branch and version is less than 3.5.0.beta8-dev, upgrade to version 3.5.0.beta8-dev
  5. 5. Follow standard Discourse upgrade procedures (backup database, run ./launcher rebuild app)
  6. 6. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the version number
  7. 7. Confirm the whisper visibility issue is resolved by testing with users who should no longer see whispers
Caveat Minor - this is a security patch release; standard Discourse upgrade procedures apply

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

Fix this in Discourse Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2025-49845 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