CVE-2023-23622 Discourse: Presence of read restricted topics may be leaked if tagged with a tag that is visible to all users
Attackers can infer the existence of topics in restricted categories by polling public tag counts, leaking sensitive metadata.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-23622?
CVE-2023-23622 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Discourse Discourse, published on 17 Mar 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.0.1 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta2 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, the count of topics displayed for a tag is a count of all regular topics regardless of whether the topic is in a read restricted category or not. As a result, any users can technically poll a sensitive tag to determine if a new topic is created in a category which the user does not have excess to.
In version 3.0.1 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta2 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, the count of topics displayed for a tag defaults to only counting regular topics which are not in read restricted categories. Staff users will continue to see a count of all topics regardless of the topic's category read restrictions.
Weakness: CWE-200
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-23622?
1 open source package ship an affected version, including discourse. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
discourse Bitnami | All versions | 3.0.0 |
Products include Discourse Discourse.
How do I fix CVE-2023-23622?
Upgrade discourse to 3.0.0 or later.
Is CVE-2023-23622 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-23622 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Discourse Discourse
- CVE-2021-41163 RCE via malicious SNS subscription payload
- CVE-2022-36066 Discourse vulnerable to RCE via admins uploading maliciously zipped file
- CVE-2022-39356 Discourse user account takeover via email and invite link
- CVE-2023-22468 Discourse vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting in local oneboxes
- CVE-2026-27934 Discourse leaks private topic title and post excerpt via user action API endpoint
Sources
Also known as BIT-discourse-2023-23622, GHSA-2wvr-4x7w-v795.