CVE-2026-27481

Received Received - Intake

Authorization Bypass in Discourse Tags Exposes Staff-Only Data

Publication date: 2026-04-03

Last updated on: 2026-04-22

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description

Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. From versions 2026.1.0-latest to before 2026.1.3, 2026.2.0-latest to before 2026.2.2, and 2026.3.0-latest to before 2026.3.0, an authorization bypass vulnerability allows unauthenticated or unauthorized users to view hidden (staff-only) tags and its associated data. All Discourse instances with tagging enabled and staff-only tag groups configured are impacted. This issue has been patched in versions 2026.1.3, 2026.2.2, and 2026.3.0.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-04-03

Last Modified

2026-04-22

Generated

2026-07-06

AI Q&A

2026-04-04

EPSS Evaluated

2026-07-05

NVD

CVE-2026-27481

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
discourse	discourse	2026.3.0
discourse	discourse	From 2026.1.0 (inc) to 2026.1.2 (inc)
discourse	discourse	From 2026.2.0 (inc) to 2026.2.1 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-200	The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability affects the Discourse open-source discussion platform in certain versions before they were patched. It is an authorization bypass issue that allows unauthenticated or unauthorized users to view hidden tags that are meant only for staff, along with the data associated with those tags.

Specifically, any Discourse instance that has tagging enabled and staff-only tag groups configured is impacted by this vulnerability.

Impact Analysis

The impact of this vulnerability is that unauthorized or unauthenticated users can access information that is intended to be restricted to staff members only. This could lead to exposure of sensitive internal tags and data that may reveal confidential or operational details about the platform or its users.

Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, update your Discourse installation to one of the patched versions: 2026.1.3, 2026.2.2, or 2026.3.0.

Ensure that tagging is enabled and staff-only tag groups are properly configured after the update to prevent unauthorized access to hidden tags.

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