Medium Access control

CVE-2026-26207 — DIscourse's discourse-policy plugin lacks post access check

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to versions 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, and 2026.2.0, `discourse-policy` plugin allows any authenticated user to interact with policies on posts they do not have permission to view. The `PolicyController` loads posts by ID without verifying the current user's access, enabling policy group members to accept/unaccept policies on posts in private categories or PMs they cannot see and any authenticated user to enumerate which post IDs have policies attached via differentiated error responses (information disclosure). The issue is patched in versions 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, and 2026.2.0 by adding a `guardian.can_see?(@post)` check in the `set_post` before_action, ensuring post visibility is verified before any policy action is processed. As a workaround, disabling the discourse-policy plugin (`policy_enabled = false`) eliminates the vulnerability. There is no other workaround without upgrading.

Published Feb 26, 2026 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: GitHub_M

Low

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

EPSS 0.3% (30-day exploitation probability)+2
Technical severity (medium)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

0.26%

ahead of 16% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026

Affects

Discourse

CVSS base

5.4

Medium · 2 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script the kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Discourse Discourse).
No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (access control), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Discourse	Discourse	< 2025.12.0≥ 2026.1.0 and < 2026.1.1version 2026.2.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Discourse	Discourse	version < 2025.12.2version >= 2026.1.0-latest, < 2026.1.1version >= 2026.2.0-latest, < 2026.2.0	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Network

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

Low

Availability

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
5.4	CVSS 3.1	Medium	2.8	2.5	security-advisories@github.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
5.4	CVSS 3.1	Medium	—	—	GitHub_M via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N (score shown at the top: security-advisories@github.com)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-862 · Missing Authorization

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.26%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
Audit administrative actions and access to resources outside each user’s normal pattern.

web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSauthentication logsapplication logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
Affected products added · discourse/discourse
Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 13, 2026
CVSS changed · 5.4
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Analyzed
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVE published
Feb 26, 2026 · GitHub_M

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

1 on the record

github.com/discourse/discourse/security/advisories/GHSA-jr4h-w6p5-w55r
Vendor Advisory, x_refsource_CONFIRM, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Discourse
every CVE for this vendor

Access control
same class

CWE-862
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

High CVE-2026-91159 Discourse: Stored oEmbed HTML injection via allowed iframe 1d
High CVE-2026-91157 Discourse: Media uploads remain publicly accessible after category permissions are restricted 1d
High CVE-2026-91156 Discourse: Chat MessageBus delivers read-restricted messages to unauthorized users 1d
Medium CVE-2026-59829 Discourse: Review queue exposes flag-related private message excerpts to category group moderators Aug 17, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-55704 Discourse: Shared-draft titles and excerpts leak through group post serialization Aug 17, 2026
Critical CVE-2026-55674 Discourse: Cache poisoning/XSS via color scheme cookies Aug 17, 2026

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-26207 is "DIscourse's discourse-policy plugin lacks post access check", rated Medium. It affects Discourse (Discourse); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 5.4 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.26% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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