CVE-2026-44785
Received Received - Intake
Information Disclosure in Discourse AI Explain Helper

Publication date: 2026-06-12

Last updated on: 2026-06-12

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description
Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. From versions 2026.1.0-latest to before 2026.1.4, 2026.3.0-latest to before 2026.3.1, and 2026.4.0-latest to before 2026.4.1, the AI "explain" helper only checks can_see? on the post being explained, not its reply_to_post, so any authenticated user with access to the AI helper could read the raw contents of a hidden parent post by invoking "Explain" on a reply to it. This issue has been patched in versions 2026.1.4, 2026.3.1, 2026.4.1, and 2026.5.0-latest.1.
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Meta Information
Published
2026-06-12
Last Modified
2026-06-12
Generated
2026-06-13
AI Q&A
2026-06-13
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-44785
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 7 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
discourse discourse From 2026.1.0 (inc) to 2026.1.4 (exc)
discourse discourse From 2026.3.0 (inc) to 2026.3.1 (exc)
discourse discourse From 2026.4.0 (inc) to 2026.4.1 (exc)
discourse discourse 2026.1.4
discourse discourse 2026.3.1
discourse discourse 2026.4.1
discourse discourse 2026.5.0-latest.1
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-200 The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.
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Executive Summary

This vulnerability exists in the Discourse open-source discussion platform in certain versions before they were patched. The issue is that the AI "explain" helper feature only checks if a user can see the specific post they want explained, but it does not check permissions on the parent post that the explained post is replying to.

As a result, an authenticated user who has access to the AI helper can use the "Explain" function on a reply post to read the raw contents of a hidden parent post that they normally should not have access to.

This flaw was fixed in Discourse versions 2026.1.4, 2026.3.1, 2026.4.1, and 2026.5.0-latest.1.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can lead to unauthorized disclosure of hidden or restricted content within a Discourse forum.

An authenticated user with access to the AI helper could read sensitive or private information from parent posts that are meant to be hidden, potentially exposing confidential discussions or data.

The impact is limited to confidentiality (information disclosure) and does not affect integrity or availability.

Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, you should upgrade your Discourse installation to one of the patched versions: 2026.1.4, 2026.3.1, 2026.4.1, or 2026.5.0-latest.1.

These versions fix the issue where the AI "explain" helper improperly checks permissions, preventing authenticated users from reading hidden parent posts by invoking "Explain" on a reply.

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