# CVE-2022-31096: Auth bypass in discourse

> Logged-in users can bypass email restrictions on invites to join restricted groups, gaining unauthorized access to private content.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 27 Jun 2022
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** BIT-discourse-2022-31096, GHSA-rvp8-459h-282r

## What is CVE-2022-31096?

CVE-2022-31096 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Discourse Discourse, published on 27 Jun 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Under certain conditions, a logged in user can redeem an invite with an email that either doesn't match the invite's email or does not adhere to the email domain restriction of an invite link. The impact of this flaw is aggravated when the invite has been configured to add the user that accepts the invite into restricted groups. Once a user has been incorrectly added to a restricted group, the user may then be able to view content which that are restricted to the respective group. Users are advised to upgrade to the current stable releases. There are no known workarounds to this issue.

Weakness: CWE-281 (Improper Preservation of Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-31096?

1 open source package ship an affected version, including discourse. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `discourse` | Bitnami | All versions to 2.8.4 | None |

Products: Discourse Discourse.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-31096?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-31096 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-31096 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-31096 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Discourse Discourse

- [CVE-2021-41163](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41163/): RCE via malicious SNS subscription payload (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2022-36066](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-36066/): Discourse vulnerable to RCE via admins uploading maliciously zipped file (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2022-39356](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-39356/): Discourse user account takeover via email and invite link (high 8.9)
- [CVE-2023-22468](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22468/): Discourse vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting in local oneboxes (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-27934](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-27934/): Discourse leaks private topic title and post excerpt via user action API endpoint (high 8.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-31096 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-31096 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Discourse Discourse, published on 27 Jun 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-31096 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- discourse (Bitnami): affected all versions up to 2.8.4; no fix listed

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31096/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31096/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-31096
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-31096
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-31096

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31096/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.