Resource exhaustion in Discourse

CVE-2023-38498

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, a malicious user can prevent the defer queue from proceeding promptly on sites hosted in the same multisite installation. The issue is patched in version 3.0.6 of the `stable` branch and version 3.1.0.beta7 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Users of multisite configurations should upgrade.

Vulnerability class: DoS (Denial of Service)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.007 (51.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 51st percentile — 51.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2023-38498: held from 0.007 to 0.007.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.007 · newest: 0.007 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-38498?
CVE-2023-38498 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Discourse, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 4.3/10. Published 2023-07-28.
How severe is CVE-2023-38498?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.3 out of 10.
Is CVE-2023-38498 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.