CVE-2025-68934
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify

Publication date: 2026-01-28

Last updated on: 2026-01-30

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description
Discourse is an open source discussion platform. In versions prior to 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0, authenticated users can submit crafted payloads to /drafts.json that cause O(n^2) processing in Base62.decode, tying up workers for 35-60 seconds per request. This affects all users as the shared worker pool becomes exhausted. This issue is patched in versions 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0. Lowering the max_draft_length site setting reduces attack surface but does not fully mitigate the issue, as payloads under the limit can still trigger the slow code path.
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Meta Information
Published
2026-01-28
Last Modified
2026-01-30
Generated
2026-06-16
AI Q&A
2026-01-29
EPSS Evaluated
2026-06-15
NVD
CVE-2025-68934
EUVD
EUVD-2025-206443
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 4 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
discourse discourse to 3.5.4 (exc)
discourse discourse From 2025.11.0 (inc) to 2025.11.2 (exc)
discourse discourse 2025.12.0
discourse discourse 2026.1.0
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-770 The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
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Executive Summary

This vulnerability in Discourse allows authenticated users to submit specially crafted payloads to the /drafts.json endpoint, which causes an O(n^2) processing complexity in the Base62.decode function. This results in workers being tied up for 35-60 seconds per request, exhausting the shared worker pool and affecting all users.

Impact Analysis

The vulnerability can cause denial of service by exhausting the shared worker pool, leading to degraded performance or unavailability of the Discourse platform for all users during the attack.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Discourse to one of the patched versions: 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, or 2026.1.0. As a temporary measure, lowering the max_draft_length site setting can reduce the attack surface, but it does not fully mitigate the issue.

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