User activity disclosure via missing topic authorization
Published Jan 5, 2023 · Updated Mar 10, 2025
Information disclosure in Discourse stable before 2.8.14 and beta 2.9.0.beta0 through 3.0.0.beta15 allows remote attackers to read user post counts. The user profile controller accepts include_post_count_for and returns a count without first verifying that the requester can view the selected topic. No authentication or user interaction is required, and the disclosed count reveals a user's activity in an otherwise inaccessible topic.
Summary
What happened
Information disclosure in Discourse stable before 2.8.14 and beta 2.9.0.beta0 through 3.0.0.beta15 allows remote attackers to read user post counts. The user profile controller accepts include_post_count_for and returns a count without first verifying that the requester can view the selected topic. No authentication or user interaction is required, and the disclosed count reveals a user's activity in an otherwise inaccessible topic.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-22453
- Published
- Jan 5, 2023
- Updated
- Mar 10, 2025
- Vendor
- Discourse
- Product
- Discourse
- Classifications
- CWE-200
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 5, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 10, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 2.8.14
- Affected versionversion=>= 2.9.0.beta0, < 3.0.0.beta16
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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