Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-33291

Access Control in Discourse 2026.1.0 – 2026.1.2

Published
20 March 2026
Modified
24 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 5.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-33291 is a medium-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Discourse Discourse. Its CVSS base score is 5.1 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 10th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. Prior to versions 2026.3.0-latest.1, 2026.2.1, and 2026.1.2, moderators can create Zendesk tickets for topics they do not have access to view. This affects all forums that use the Zendesk plugin. Versions 2026.3.0-latest.1, 2026.2.1, and…

more

2026.1.2 contain a patch. No known workarounds are available.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

Insufficient information to map techniques.
Confidence: LOW · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-68933Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2023-32061Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2025-69289Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-24742Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2025-69218Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-33410Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-33428Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-33251Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-27153Same product: Discourse Discourse
CVE-2026-28282Same product: Discourse Discourse

Affected Assets

discourse
discourse
2026.3.0 · 2026.1.0 — 2026.1.2 · 2026.2.0 — 2026.2.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
  • AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces authorization checks so moderators cannot create Zendesk tickets for topics they are not permitted to view.

prevent

Restricts moderator privileges to only the minimum actions required, eliminating the ability to act on inaccessible topics.

prevent

Enforces information-flow rules between Discourse topics and the Zendesk plugin so actions are blocked when the source topic is inaccessible.

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.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Defining, enforcing, and reviewing access authorizations and least privilege directly prevents incorrect authorization checks.

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

Requiring consistency between access rights and classification plus formal approval steps ensures that the authorization logic correctly distinguishes between entities that should and should not be granted access.

prevents

Enforcing policy-driven approval and role-change reviews stops incorrect or stale authorization decisions from remaining in effect after job changes or terminations.

prevents

By tying access rights to identity, device, location and classification, the control reduces the likelihood that an authorization decision will be based on an incorrect or bypassed policy.

References