Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. Welcome banner user name string for logged in users can be vulnerable to XSS attacks, which affect the user themselves or an admin impersonating them. Admins can temporarily alter the welcome_banner.header.logged_in_members site text to remove the preferred_display_name placeholder, or not impersonate any users for the time being. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.5.0.beta8.
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.4, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity though user interaction is required requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts limited data confidentiality, limited integrity, for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from discourse organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2025, 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.
2025-08-19T17:15:40.833
2025-08-25T18:25:52.673
Analyzed
CVSSv3.1: 5.4 (MEDIUM)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | discourse | discourse | < 3.5.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.5.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.5.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.5.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.5.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.5.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.5.0 | Yes |
| Application | discourse | discourse | 3.5.0 | 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.