# CVE-2023-25169: Yearly Review Plugin leaking anonymised users data in discourse-yearly-review

> Anonymized user data remains linked to original accounts in Yearly Review topics, allowing potential identification of users.

- **Severity:** Low 3.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **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:** No
- **Published:** 6 Mar 2023
- **Updated:** 25 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-x2r8-v85c-x3x7

## What is CVE-2023-25169?

CVE-2023-25169 is a low-severity vulnerability in discourse-yearly-review, published on 6 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-yearly-review is a discourse plugin which publishes an automated Year in Review topic. In affected versions a user present in a yearly review topic that is then anonymised will still have some data linked to its original account. This issue has been patched in commit `b3ab33bbf7` which is included in the latest version of the Discourse Yearly Review plugin. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may disable the `yearly_review_enabled` setting to fully mitigate the issue. Also, it's possible to edit the anonymised user's old data in the yearly review topics manually.

Weakness: CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-25169?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Discourse Discourse Yearly Review.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-25169?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-25169 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-25169 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-25169 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-25169 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-25169 is a low-severity vulnerability in discourse-yearly-review, published on 6 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-25169 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: discourse-yearly-review. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2023-25169/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-25169/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-25169
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-25169
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-25169

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-25169/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.