Discourse is an open source platform for community discussion. In affected versions a user logged as an administrator can call arbitrary methods on the `SiteSetting` class, notably `#clear_cache!` and `#notify_changed!`, which when done on a multisite instance, can affect the entire cluster resulting in a denial of service. Users not running in multisite environments are not affected. This issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed versions of Discourse. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 4.2, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network but requires specific conditions to be met though user interaction is required . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from discourse organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2023, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2023-04-18T22:15:08.197
2024-11-21T08:00:29.620
Modified
CVSSv3.1: 4.2 (MEDIUM)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | discourse | discourse | ≤ 3.0.1 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | < 3.1.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.1.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.1.0 | Yes |
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For discourse's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.