CVE-2024-21655Network attack vector

Resource exhaustion via oversized client-editable field values

Published Jan 12, 2024 · Updated Jun 3, 2025

Uncontrolled resource consumption in Discourse 3.1.3 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to consume excessive disk space and bandwidth. Client-editable custom fields accept values with no size limit or an overly generous limit, causing persistent storage growth and repeated data transfer. Any low-privileged account that can edit an exposed field can consume host storage and network capacity, degrading forum availability.

CVSS severity4.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.57%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Uncontrolled resource consumption in Discourse 3.1.3 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to consume excessive disk space and bandwidth. Client-editable custom fields accept values with no size limit or an overly generous limit, causing persistent storage growth and repeated data transfer. Any low-privileged account that can edit an exposed field can consume host storage and network capacity, degrading forum availability.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-21655
Published
Jan 12, 2024
Updated
Jun 3, 2025
Vendor
Discourse
Product
Discourse
Classifications
CWE-400, CWE-770, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 12, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jun 3, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 3.1.4
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 3.2.0beta1, < 3.2.0.beta4

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Discourse · Discourseversion=< 3.1.4; version=>= 3.2.0beta1, < 3.2.0.beta4

Published CVSS scores

4.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
4.3GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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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