Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-28112

SSRF in Discourse ≤ 3.1.0

Published
17 March 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0058 45th percentile
Risk Priority 46 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-28112 is a medium-severity SSRF (CWE-918) vulnerability in Discourse Discourse. Its CVSS base score is 5.9 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 45th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. Prior to version 3.1.0.beta3 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches, some user provided URLs were being passed to FastImage without SSRF protection. Insufficient protections could enable attackers to trigger outbound network connections from the…

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Discourse server to private IP addresses. This affects any site running the `tests-passed` or `beta` branches versions 3.1.0.beta2 and prior. This issue is patched in version 3.1.0.beta3 of the `beta` and `tests-passed` branches. There are no known workarounds.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-37157Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2025-68662Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-33185Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2023-47121Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2023-28111Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-27149Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-45775Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2025-22601Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-26078Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-32114Same product: Discourse Discourse

Affected Assets

discourse
discourse
3.1.0 · ≤ 3.1.0 · ≤ 3.1.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.3.6
  • V1.5.3
  • V5.3.2
  • V10.4.7

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-918

Penetration testing attempts server-side requests to internal resources, identifying SSRF weaknesses for remediation.

addresses: CWE-918

Outbound connections to external resources can be monitored and limited at the boundary, reducing SSRF impact.

addresses: CWE-918

Validates server-side URLs and resource references to block SSRF attempts.

addresses: CWE-918

Detects server-side request forgery through monitoring of unexpected outbound connections.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure development practices directly include input validation and destination allow-listing that prevent SSRF.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Runtime monitoring of web applications and services can detect anomalous outbound requests indicative of SSRF.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover and record SSRF flaws in web applications.

PR.IR-01 partial match
prevents

Network segmentation and egress controls can limit the damage from successful SSRF requests.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Operational threat data describing SSRF campaigns can be used to tighten outbound-request allow-lists and detection rules before attackers exploit them.

References