Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-24827

DoS in Discourse ≤ 3.2.0

Published
15 March 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0059 45th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-24827 is a medium-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Discourse Discourse. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application Exhaustion Flood (T1499.003); ranked at the 45th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Discourse is an open source platform for community discussion. Without a rate limit on the POST /uploads endpoint, it makes it easier for an attacker to carry out a DoS attack on the server since creating an upload can be…

more

a resource intensive process. Do note that the impact varies from site to site as various site settings like `max_image_size_kb`, `max_attachment_size_kb` and `max_image_megapixels` will determine the amount of resources used when creating an upload. The issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed version of Discourse. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should reduce `max_image_size_kb`, `max_attachment_size_kb` and `max_image_megapixels` as smaller uploads require less resources to process. Alternatively, `client_max_body_size` can be reduced in Nginx to prevent large uploads from reaching the server.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Why these techniques?

Lack of rate limiting on POST /uploads endpoint enables application exhaustion flood via repeated resource-intensive uploads, causing DoS.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-43789Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2024-53851Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2023-28440Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2024-27085Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2024-38360Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2024-37299Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2023-48297Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2025-68659Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2023-36818Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2024-27100Same product: Discourse Discourse

Affected Assets

discourse
discourse
≤ 3.2.0 · ≤ 3.3.0

Mitigating Controls

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-400

Limiting concurrent sessions directly prevents uncontrolled resource consumption by capping the number of active sessions per user or account.

addresses: CWE-400

Analysis identifies uncontrolled resource consumption indicative of denial-of-service or abuse attempts.

addresses: CWE-400

Contingency plan testing includes resource exhaustion scenarios to verify recovery, making it harder for attackers to sustain exploits that cause uncontrolled consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

Updated contingency plans include current procedures to detect, contain, and recover from resource exhaustion, limiting an attacker's ability to sustain impact from uncontrolled consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

Alternate site allows resumption of operations if resource exhaustion at the primary site is exploited to cause unavailability.

addresses: CWE-400

Alternate telecommunications services enable resumption of essential functions when primary services become unavailable due to uncontrolled resource consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

The team can analyze and respond to resource exhaustion incidents, reducing the impact of attacks that exploit uncontrolled consumption weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-400

Timely maintenance support and spare parts enable rapid recovery from failures induced by uncontrolled resource consumption, shortening the impact window of denial-of-service attacks.

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.IR-04 mostly match
prevents

Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.

PR.IR-03 partial match
prevents

Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.

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.

detects

Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.

prevents

By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.

detects

Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.

mitigates

Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.

mitigates

Defining RTOs and capacity requirements for ICT services during business-impact analysis forces organizations to provision sufficient resources and throttling mechanisms, reducing the likelihood that an attacker can induce denial-of-service through uncontrolled resource consumption.

detects

Early notification of anomalous resource consumption or system malfunctions enables throttling or isolation before availability is lost.

References