Resource exhaustion in Discourse

CVE-2023-41043

Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.1.1 of the `stable` branch and version 3.2.0.beta1 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, a malicious admin could create extremely large icons sprites, which would then be cached in each server process. This may cause server processes to be killed and lead to downtime. The issue is patched in version 3.1.1 of the `stable` branch and version 3.2.0.beta1 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. This is only a concern for multisite installations. No action is required when the admins are trusted.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.006 (47.8th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 48th percentile — 47.8% 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-2023-41043: held from 0.005 to 0.006.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.006 · change: +0.001

Affected products

  • Discourse — versions 2.4.0, 3.1.0, tests-passed < 3.2.0.beta1

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-41043?
CVE-2023-41043 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Discourse, classified under Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2023-09-15.
How severe is CVE-2023-41043?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.