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DiscourseApplication

CVE-2025-69289

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.5.4 / 2025.11.2 or later.
See remediation →
60/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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. A privilege escalation vulnerability in versions prior to 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0 allows a non-admin moderator to bypass email-change restrictions, allowing a takeover of non-staff accounts. This issue is patched in versions 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0. As a workaround, ensure moderators are trusted or enable the "require_change_email_confirmation" setting.

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 privilege escalation vulnerability in Discourse allows non-admin moderators to bypass email-change restrictions, potentially enabling account takeover of non-staff users. The issue stems from insufficient access control checks in the email change functionality.

MitigationUpgrade Discourse to version 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, or 2026.1.0, or alternatively enable the 'require_change_email_confirmation' setting as a workaround.

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:< 3.5.4>= 2025.11.0, < 2025.11.2= 2025.12.0= 2026.1.0

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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. Locate Discourse version
    Access the Discourse admin dashboard and navigate to /admin/dashboard or run `discourse --version` from the command line if you have CLI access
    Affected if version falls outside the safe releases (3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, 2026.1.0 or higher)
  2. Compare version against affected ranges
    Check if the installed version matches any of the vulnerable patterns: < 3.5.4, >= 2025.11.0 but < 2025.11.2, exactly 2025.12.0, or exactly 2026.1.0
    Affected if version matches one of these vulnerable patterns
  3. Check email confirmation setting
    In the Discourse admin panel, go to Settings > Email and verify whether the 'require_change_email_confirmation' setting is enabled, or query the site setting via the API using /admin/site_settings.json
    Affected if require_change_email_confirmation is disabled (set to false) AND the version is vulnerable from step 2
  4. Confirm moderator access exists
    Verify that non-admin moderator accounts exist on the system by reviewing the users list in /admin/users/list/moderators
    Affected if non-admin moderator accounts exist AND conditions from steps 2 and 3 are true

You are affected if running a vulnerable Discourse version AND the require_change_email_confirmation setting is disabled, and you have non-admin moderator accounts on the instance.

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 3.5.4 / 2025.11.2 or later
Fixed in 3.5.42025.11.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Discourse to version 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, or 2026.1.0, or alternatively enable the 'require_change_email_confirmation' setting as a workaround.

Recommended fix High confidence

3.5.4 (stable), 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, or 2026.1.0 - depending on your release branch

  1. 1. Identify your current Discourse version by checking the admin dashboard or Discourse version file
  2. 2. Based on your release track, upgrade to the appropriate fixed version: 3.5.4 (for stable releases), 2025.11.2 (for the 2025.11.x branch), 2025.12.1 (for the 2025.12.x branch), or 2026.1.0 (for the 2026.1.x branch)
  3. 3. After upgrade, verify the patch was applied by checking the Discourse version in the admin panel
  4. 4. As an additional mitigation, enable the 'require_change_email_confirmation' setting in Discourse admin settings to enforce email change confirmation
  5. 5. Audit existing moderator accounts to ensure they are trusted individuals
Caveat Standard Discourse upgrade considerations apply; review release notes for your target version for any breaking changes

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

Fix this in Discourse Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2025-69289 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