CVE-2026-44784
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 · uneditedDiscourse is an open-source discussion platform. From versions 2026.1.0-latest to before 2026.1.4, 2026.3.0-latest to before 2026.3.1, and 2026.4.0-latest to before 2026.4.1, group owners who are not necessarily admins or moderators can view a group's outgoing email/SMTP credentials in plaintext via the group history log (/groups/:name/logs.json). Affected fields: email_password, email_username, smtp_server, smtp_port, smtp_ssl_mode. The most sensitive item is the SMTP password, which an owner could use to send mail as the group from outside Discourse. This impacts sites that have configured per-group SMTP credentials and granted group ownership to users who should not have access to those credentials. This issue has been patched in versions 2026.1.4, 2026.3.1, 2026.4.1, and 2026.5.0-latest.1.
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 confidenceIn affected Discourse versions, the group history log endpoint (/groups/:name/logs.json) returns plaintext SMTP/email credentials (email_password, email_username, smtp_server, smtp_port, smtp_ssl_mode) to any group owner, even those without admin or moderator privileges. This exposes sensitive authentication material that could allow unauthorized email sending.
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< 2026.1.0>= 2026.1.0, < 2026.1.4>= 2026.3.0, < 2026.3.1>= 2026.4.0, < 2026.4.1= 2026.5.0CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Discourse versionRun `git describe --tags` in the Discourse install directory, or check the version displayed in the admin dashboard under /about. Compare this version number to the affected ranges: < 2026.1.0, >= 2026.1.0 && < 2026.1.4, >= 2026.3.0 && < 2026.3.1, >= 2026.4.0 && < 2026.4.1, = 2026.5.0Affected if The installed version matches any of the affected ranges listed above
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Identify group owners without admin or moderator privilegesQuery the Discourse database: `SELECT user_id, group_id FROM group_users WHERE owner = true` and cross-reference with `SELECT user_id FROM admin_roles` and `SELECT user_id FROM moderator_logs` to find owners who lack admin or moderator rolesAffected if There exist group owners who do not hold admin or moderator privileges
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Inspect group history log endpoint responseAs a non-admin, non-moderator group owner, make a GET request to /groups/:name/logs.json (replace :name with an actual group name) and examine the JSON response for the fields: email_password, email_username, smtp_server, smtp_port, smtp_ssl_modeAffected if The response contains any of the credential fields (email_password, email_username, smtp_server, smtp_port, smtp_ssl_mode) with plaintext values
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Check for email credentials in group settingsReview the group settings in the Discourse admin panel at /groups/:name/edit or query the groups table in the database for any group that has SMTP configuration storedAffected if Any group has SMTP or email credentials configured in its settings
A user is affected if they run a Discourse version within the affected ranges AND have group owners (without admin/moderator privileges) who can access the /groups/:name/logs.json endpoint and see plaintext email/SMTP credentials.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped2026.1.02026.1.42026.3.1
Upgrade Discourse to version 2026.1.4, 2026.3.1, 2026.4.1, or 2026.5.0-latest.1 to patch the credential exposure in the group history log. Audit group ownership and logs to determine if unauthorized credential access has occurred.
2026.1.4, 2026.3.1, 2026.4.1, or 2026.5.0-latest
- Identify the current Discourse version running in your environment
- Plan maintenance window for the upgrade
- Upgrade Discourse to version 2026.1.4, 2026.3.1, 2026.4.1, or the latest stable 2026.5.0-latest
- After upgrade, verify the group history endpoint (/groups/:name/logs.json) no longer exposes SMTP credentials
- Review group ownership assignments to ensure only trusted users have group owner permissions
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-44784 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-44784 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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