Auth bypass in Discourse

CVE-2026-59829

Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. Prior to 2026.1.6, 2026.5.2, 2026.6.1, and 2026.7.1, on sites with category group moderation enabled, the review queue could include an excerpt (and permalink) of the private message attached to a flag, even when the reviewing category moderator was not a participant in that message. These notify_moderators flag messages are addressed only to moderators and, for core flags, to a category's moderation groups as they existed when the flag was raised, so a category group moderator could read flag-discussion content they were not authorized to see. This affects official plugins that create such messages and core flags raised before a moderator's group was granted moderation of the category. Only the confidentiality of a limited excerpt of these flag-related private messages is affected; no content can be modified or deleted. This issue is fixed in versions 2026.1.6, 2026.5.2, 2026.6.1, and 2026.7.1.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

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:L/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (29.4th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 29th percentile — 29.4% 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-2026-59829: held from 0.002 to 0.004.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.004 · change: +0.002

Affected products

  • Discourse — versions >= 2026.1.0-latest, < 2026.1.6, >= 2026.5.0-latest, < 2026.5.2, < 2026.6.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-59829?
CVE-2026-59829 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Discourse, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 4.3/10. Published 2026-08-17.
How severe is CVE-2026-59829?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.3 out of 10.