CVE-2026-33291Network attack vector

Unauthorized Zendesk ticket creation via missing topic check

Published Mar 20, 2026 · Updated Mar 20, 2026

Incorrect authorization in Discourse before 2026.1.2, 2026.2.1, and 2026.3.0-latest.1 allows remote authenticated users to ticket inaccessible topics. The Zendesk ticket-creation flow accepts a topic reference without first checking the requesting moderator's topic-view permission. Exploitation requires a moderator account and an enabled Zendesk plugin, and it creates an external ticket based on a topic hidden from that moderator.

CVSS severity5.1
Medium
EPSS probability0.20%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Incorrect authorization in Discourse before 2026.1.2, 2026.2.1, and 2026.3.0-latest.1 allows remote authenticated users to ticket inaccessible topics. The Zendesk ticket-creation flow accepts a topic reference without first checking the requesting moderator's topic-view permission. Exploitation requires a moderator account and an enabled Zendesk plugin, and it creates an external ticket based on a topic hidden from that moderator.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-33291
Published
Mar 20, 2026
Updated
Mar 20, 2026
Vendor
Discourse
Product
Discourse
Classifications
CWE-863
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 20, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Mar 20, 2026Record 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=>= 2026.1.0-latest, < 2026.1.2
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 2026.2.0-latest, < 2026.2.1
  3. Affected versionversion== 2026.3.0-latest

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Discourse · Discourseversion=>= 2026.1.0-latest, < 2026.1.2; version=>= 2026.2.0-latest, < 2026.2.1; version== 2026.3.0-latest

Published CVSS scores

5.1GitHub, Inc.CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N
5.4NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

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-863Incorrect Authorization

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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