Discourse vulnerable to ossible DDoS due to unbounded limits in various controller actions

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, in multiple controller actions, Discourse accepts limit params but does not impose any upper bound on the values being accepted. Without an upper bound, the software may allow arbitrary users to generate DB queries which may end up exhausting the resources on the server. The issue is patched in version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Discourse vulnerable to DoS via defer queue

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, a malicious user can prevent the defer queue from proceeding promptly on sites hosted in the same multisite installation. The issue is patched in version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Users of multisite configurations should upgrade.

Discourse vulnerable to DoS via post edit reason

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, a malicious user can edit a post in a topic and cause a DoS with a carefully crafted edit reason. The issue is patched in version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Discourse Race Condition in Accept Invite

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, more users than permitted could be created from invite links. The issue is patched in version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. As a workaround, use restrict to email address invites.

Discourse CSP nonce reuse vulnerability for anonymous users

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, a CSP (Content Security Policy) nonce reuse vulnerability was discovered could allow cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks to bypass CSP protection for anonymous (i.e. unauthenticated) users. There are no known XSS vectors at the moment, but should one be discovered, this vulnerability would allow the XSS attack to bypass CSP and execute successfully. This vulnerability isn't applicable to logged-in users. Version 3.1.0.beta7 contains a patch. The stable branch doesn't have this vulnerability. A workaround to prevent the vulnerability is to disable Google Tag Manager, i.e., unset the `gtm container id` setting.

Denial of service via User Custom Sidebar Section Unlimited Link Creation in discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. In affected versions a request to create or update custom sidebar section can cause a denial of service. This issue has been patched in commit `52b003d915`. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

CSP nonce reuse vulnerability in Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. A CSP (Content Security Policy) nonce reuse vulnerability could allow XSS attacks to bypass CSP protection. There are no known XSS vectors at the moment, but should one be discovered, this vulnerability would allow the XSS attack to completely bypass CSP. The vulnerability is patched in the latest tests-passed, beta and stable branches.

Topic Title Validation Skipped When Changing Category in Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. When editing a topic, there is a vulnerability that enables a user to bypass the topic title validations for things like title length, number of emojis in title and blank topic titles. The issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed version of Discourse.

Discourse through 2.8.7 allows admins to send invitations to arbitrary email addresses at an unlimited rate.

Inline footnotes wrapped in <a> tags can cause errors in discourse-footnotes

discourse-footnote is a library providing footnotes for posts in Discourse. ### Impact When posting an inline footnote wrapped in `<a>` tags (e.g. `<a>^[footnote]</a>`, the resulting rendered HTML would include a nested `<a>`, which is stripped by Nokogiri because it is not valid. This then caused a javascript error on topic pages because we were looking for an `<a>` element inside the footnote reference span and getting its ID, and because it did not exist we got a null reference error in javascript. Users are advised to update to version 0.2. As a workaround editing offending posts from the rails console or the database console for self-hosters, or disabling the plugin in the admin panel can mitigate this issue.

Anonymous user cache poisoning via development-mode header in Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. In affected versions an attacker can poison the cache for anonymous (i.e. not logged in) users, such that the users are shown a JSON blob instead of the HTML page. This can lead to a partial denial-of-service. This issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed versions of Discourse.

Bypass of Poll voting limits in Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. In affected versions a vulnerability in the Polls feature allowed users to vote multiple times in a single-option poll. The problem is patched in the latest tests-passed, beta and stable versions of Discourse

Notifications leak in Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. In affected versions a vulnerability affects users of tag groups who use the "Tags are visible only to the following groups" feature. A tag group may only allow a certain group (e.g. staff) to view certain tags. Users who were tracking or watching the tags via /preferences/tags, then have their staff status revoked will still see notifications related to the tag, but will not see the tag on each topic. This issue has been patched in stable version 2.7.11. Users are advised to upgrade as soon as possible.

Cache poisoning via maliciously-formed request in discourse

Discourse is a platform for community discussion. In affected versions a maliciously crafted request could cause an error response to be cached by intermediate proxies. This could cause a loss of confidentiality for some content. This issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed versions of Discourse.

RCE via malicious SNS subscription payload

Discourse is an open source platform for community discussion. In affected versions maliciously crafted requests could lead to remote code execution. This resulted from a lack of validation in subscribe_url values. This issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed versions of Discourse. To workaround the issue without updating, requests with a path starting /webhooks/aws path could be blocked at an upstream proxy.

Reactions leak for secure category topics and private messages

Discourse-reactions is a plugin for the Discourse platform that allows user to add their reactions to the post. In affected versions reactions given by user to secure topics and private messages are visible. This issue is patched in version 0.2 of discourse-reaction. Users who are unable to update are advised to disable the Discourse-reactions plugin in admin panel.

XSS via blocked watched word in error message

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. There is a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in versions 2.7.7 and earlier of the `stable` branch, versions 2.8.0.beta6 and earlier of the `beta` branch, and versions 2.8.0.beta6 and earlier of the `tests-passed` branch. Rendering of some error messages that contain user input can be susceptible to XSS attacks. This vulnerability only affects sites which have blocked watched words that contain HTML tags, modified or disabled Discourse's default Content Security Policy. This issue is patched in the latest `stable`, `beta` and `tests-passed` versions of Discourse. As a workaround, avoid modifying or disabling Discourse’s default Content Security Policy, and blocking watched words containing HTML tags.

Private message title and participating users leaked in discourse

Discourse is a platform for community discussion. In affected versions any private message that includes a group had its title and participating user exposed to users that do not have access to the private messages. However, access control for the private messages was not compromised as users were not able to view the posts in the leaked private message despite seeing it in their inbox. The problematic commit was reverted around 32 minutes after it was made. Users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest commit if they are running Discourse against the `tests-passed` branch.

In Discourse 2.7.0 through beta1, a rate-limit bypass leads to a bypass of the 2FA requirement for certain forms.

Cross-site scripting via category name in Discourse

Discourse is an open source platform for community discussion. In affected versions category names can be used for Cross-site scripting(XSS) attacks. This is mitigated by Discourse's default Content Security Policy and this vulnerability only affects sites which have modified or disabled or changed Discourse's default Content Security Policy have allowed for moderators to modify categories. This issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed versions of Discourse. Users are advised to ensure that the Content Security Policy is enabled, and has not been modified in a way which would make it more vulnerable to XSS attacks.