CVE-2023-44388Network attack vector

Unauthenticated service interruption via production log exhaustion

Published Oct 16, 2023 · Updated Sep 16, 2024

Resource exhaustion in Discourse 3.1.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to interrupt service by exhausting server disk space. A malicious request expands production log files without an effective size bound; the vendor has not disclosed the responsible handler or logged field. No authentication or user interaction is required; repeated requests consume disk capacity and interrupt the forum when free space is exhausted.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.53%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in Discourse 3.1.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to interrupt service by exhausting server disk space. A malicious request expands production log files without an effective size bound; the vendor has not disclosed the responsible handler or logged field. No authentication or user interaction is required; repeated requests consume disk capacity and interrupt the forum when free space is exhausted.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-44388
Published
Oct 16, 2023
Updated
Sep 16, 2024
Vendor
Discourse
Product
Discourse
Classifications
CWE-400, T1499
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 16, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 16, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <3.1.2
  2. Affected versionversion=0 <3.2.0.beta2
  3. Affected versionversion=beta <= 3.2.0.beta2
  4. Affected versionversion=stable <= 3.1.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Discourse · Discourseversion=0 <3.1.2; version=0 <3.2.0.beta2; version=beta <= 3.2.0.beta2; version=stable <= 3.1.1

Published CVSS scores

7.5NISTCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.5GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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