# CVE-2025-22601: Client Side Path Traversal using activate account route in Discourse

> An attacker can trick users into modifying their own usernames via a crafted link in the activate-account route.

- **Severity:** Low 3.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/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:** 4 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 11 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gvpp-v7mp-wxxw

## What is CVE-2025-22601?

CVE-2025-22601 is a low-severity path traversal vulnerability in Discourse Discourse, published on 4 Feb 2025. 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 platform for community discussion. In affected versions an attacker can trick a target user to make changes to their own username via carefully crafted link using the `activate-account` route. This problem has been patched in the latest version of Discourse. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-22601?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Discourse Discourse.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-22601?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-22601 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-22601 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-22601 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-2025-22601 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-22601 is a low-severity path traversal vulnerability in Discourse Discourse, published on 4 Feb 2025. 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-2025-22601 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Discourse Discourse. 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-2025-22601/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22601/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-22601
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22601
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-22601

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22601/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.