Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-28242

Medium

Published: 15 March 2024

Published
15 March 2024
Modified
26 September 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0011 29.6th percentile
Risk Priority 11 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2024-28242 is a medium-severity Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor (CWE-200) vulnerability in Discourse Discourse. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique File and Directory Discovery (T1083); ranked at the 29.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Discourse is an open source platform for community discussion. In affected versions an attacker can learn that secret categories exist when they have backgrounds set. The issue is patched in the latest stable, beta and tests-passed version of Discourse. Users…

more

are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should temporarily remove category backgrounds.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system.
Why these techniques?

The vulnerability enables discovery of hidden secret categories via background images, facilitating File and Directory Discovery (T1083) by leaking existence of otherwise unauthorized resources.

Affected Assets

discourse
discourse
3.3.0 · ≤ 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-200

Automated marking applies security attributes to system outputs, making it harder for attackers to exploit unmarked sensitive information leading to unauthorized exposure.

addresses: CWE-200

Proper attribute retention and permitted-value enforcement limits unauthorized actors from accessing sensitive information lacking correct labels.

addresses: CWE-200

Prevents unauthorized exposure of sensitive information by prohibiting untrusted external systems from processing or storing it.

addresses: CWE-200

By enforcing authorization matching prior to sharing, the control reduces the risk of exposing sensitive information to unauthorized actors.

addresses: CWE-200

Review and removal of nonpublic information from publicly accessible systems directly prevents exposure of sensitive data to unauthorized actors.

addresses: CWE-200

Data mining protection mechanisms detect and block unauthorized bulk extraction of sensitive data, directly mitigating exposure to unauthorized actors.

addresses: CWE-200

Literacy training teaches users to recognize and avoid actions that result in unauthorized exposure of sensitive information.

addresses: CWE-200

Retaining and monitoring training records confirms personnel have completed privacy and security awareness training on handling sensitive data, reducing the chance of unauthorized exposure due to lack of knowledge.

References