Auth bypass in Discourse

CVE-2025-69289

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. A privilege escalation vulnerability in versions prior to 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0 allows a non-admin moderator to bypass email-change restrictions, allowing a takeover of non-staff accounts. This issue is patched in versions 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0. As a workaround, ensure moderators are trusted or enable the "require_change_email_confirmation" setting.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.4 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (7.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 8th percentile — 7.6% 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-2025-69289: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Discourse — versions >= 2026.1.0-latest, < 2026.1.0, >= 2025.12.0-latest, < 2025.12.1, < 3.5.4

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-69289?
CVE-2025-69289 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Discourse, classified under Incorrect Authorization. CVSS score: 5.4/10. Published 2026-01-28.
How severe is CVE-2025-69289?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.4 out of 10.