# CVE-2023-28107: Discourse vulnerable to multisite DoS by spamming backups

> Administrators can cause denial of service by spamming backup requests, exhausting database connections and affecting the entire multisite cluster.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 17 Mar 2023
- **Updated:** 25 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** BIT-discourse-2023-28107, GHSA-cp7c-fm4c-6xxx

## What is CVE-2023-28107?

CVE-2023-28107 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Discourse Discourse, published on 17 Mar 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.0.2 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta3 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, a user logged as an administrator can request backups multiple times, which will eat up all the connections to the DB. If this is done on a site using multisite, then it can affect the whole cluster. The vulnerability is patched in version 3.0.2 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta3 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. There are no known workarounds.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-28107?

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


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `discourse` | Bitnami | All versions to 3.0.1 | 3.1.0 |

Products: Discourse Discourse.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-28107?

Upgrade discourse to 3.1.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2023-28107 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28107 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-2023-28107 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-28107 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Discourse Discourse, published on 17 Mar 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28107 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- discourse (Bitnami): affected all versions up to 3.0.1; fixed in 3.1.0

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-2023-28107/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28107/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-28107
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-28107
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-28107

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28107/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.