CVE-2025-68933 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Discourse

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. In versions prior to 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0, non-admin moderators with the `moderators_change_post_ownership` setting enabled can change ownership of posts in private messages and restricted categories they cannot access, then export their data to view the content. This is a broken access control vulnerability affecting sites that grant moderators post ownership transfer permissions. This issue is patched in versions 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0. The patch adds visibility checks for both the topic and posts before allowing ownership transfer. As a workaround, disable the `moderators_change_post_ownership` site setting to prevent non-admin moderators from using the post ownership transfer feature.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-05-30	0.02%	0.05%	+0.03%
2	2026-01-29	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-05-30

0.02%

0.05%

+0.03%

2026-01-29

—

0.02%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
6.9	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:H) They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. Confidentiality (C:L) Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	1.7	4.7	[email protected]
5.4	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:L) Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump. Integrity (I:L) Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.8	2.5	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

6.9

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H): They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L): Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

1.7

4.7

[email protected]

5.4

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L): Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L): Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.8

2.5

[email protected]

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-68933

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
discourse	discourse	< 3.5.4	cpe:2.3:a:discourse:discourse:::::stable:::*
discourse	discourse	>= 2025.11.0, < 2025.11.2	cpe:2.3:a:discourse:discourse:::::stable:::*
discourse	discourse	2025.12.0	cpe:2.3:a:discourse:discourse:2025.12.0::::stable:::
discourse	discourse	2026.1.0	cpe:2.3:a:discourse:discourse:2026.1.0::::stable:::

References for CVE-2025-68933

URL	Tags
https://github.com/discourse/discourse/security/advisories/GHSA-hpxv-mw7v-fqg2	Third Party Advisory Mitigation

URL

CVE-2025-68933 | Discourse non-admin moderators can exfiltrate private content via post ownership transfer

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-68933

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-68933

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-68933

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-68933

References for CVE-2025-68933