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DiscourseApplication

CVE-2026-44787

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2026.1.5 / 2026.4.2 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable Zero-click Patch available 6 weeks old

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. Prior to 2026.6.0, 2026.5.1, 2026.4.2, and 2026.1.5, the signup flow could allow newly registered users to set primary_group_id and gain whisper-group privileges without legitimate group membership on sites with whispers_allowed_groups configured. This issue is fixed in versions 2026.6.0, 2026.5.1, 2026.4.2, and 2026.1.5.

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's user registration flow allows attackers to manipulate the primary_group_id parameter during signup to gain whisper-group privileges without legitimate group membership. This only affects sites with whispers_allowed_groups configured.

MitigationUpgrade Discourse to version 2026.6.0, 2026.5.1, 2026.4.2, or 2026.1.5. Sites with whispers_allowed_groups should prioritize this upgrade given the high CVSS score.

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:>= 2026.1.0, < 2026.1.5>= 2026.4.0, < 2026.4.2>= 2026.5.0, < 2026.5.1= 2026.6.0

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
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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. Determine installed Discourse version
    Run `discourse version` from the Discourse installation directory, or check the version displayed in the Admin Dashboard under /about, or inspect the VERSION file in the Discourse root directory.
    Affected if The installed version falls within one of these ranges: 2026.1.0 to 2026.1.4, 2026.4.0 to 2026.4.1, 2026.5.0 to 2026.5.0, or equals 2026.6.0.
  2. Verify whispers_allowed_groups is configured
    Navigate to Admin > Settings > Users in the Discourse admin panel and search for whispers_allowed_groups, or query the site_settings table in the database for a non-null value in the whispers_allowed_groups setting.
    Affected if A non-empty value is set for whispers_allowed_groups, meaning the site allows specific groups to access whisper posts.
  3. Confirm vulnerability applicability
    If both conditions above are true (affected version range AND whispers_allowed_groups is configured), the environment is affected by this privilege escalation vulnerability.
    Affected if The site runs an affected Discourse version AND has whispers_allowed_groups enabled, allowing an attacker to manipulate primary_group_id during signup to gain unauthorized whisper-group privileges.

A user is affected if their Discourse instance runs a version between 2026.1.0 and 2026.1.4, between 2026.4.0 and 2026.4.1, equal to 2026.5.0, or equal to 2026.6.0, AND has whispers_allowed_groups configured in site settings.

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 2026.1.5 / 2026.4.2 / 2026.5.1 or later
Fixed in 2026.1.52026.4.22026.5.1
Vendor patch github.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Discourse to version 2026.6.0, 2026.5.1, 2026.4.2, or 2026.1.5. Sites with whispers_allowed_groups should prioritize this upgrade given the high CVSS score.

Recommended fix High confidence

2026.1.5, 2026.4.2, 2026.5.1, or 2026.6.1+ (depending on which branch of affected versions you're on)

  1. Identify current Discourse version using the admin dashboard or CLI
  2. Determine the target fixed version based on current version: if >= 2026.1.0 and < 2026.1.5, upgrade to 2026.1.5; if >= 2026.4.0 and < 2026.4.2, upgrade to 2026.4.2; if >= 2026.5.0 and < 2026.5.1, upgrade to 2026.5.1; if = 2026.6.0, upgrade to 2026.6.1 or later
  3. Backup the Discourse instance including database and uploads
  4. For Docker-based deployments: run `cd /var/discourse && git pull && ./launcher rebuild app`
  5. For source installations: follow the standard upgrade procedure (bundle install, rake db:migrate, rake assets:precompile)
  6. After upgrade, verify the fix by reviewing the patched code at github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/012796ac28c85b30aa233c5ef042fc66efff8126
  7. Test that newly registered users cannot set arbitrary primary_group_id values
Caveat Standard Discourse minor version upgrades typically have minimal breaking changes, but review release notes for any deprecation warnings or configuration changes

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

Fix this in Discourse Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2026-44787 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