Medium severity · published Jan 28, 2026
CVE-2025-69289
Discourse has insecure default configuration that allows non-admin moderators to takeover any non-staff account via email change
5.4
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Discourse is an open source discussion platform. A privilege escalation vulnerability in versions prior to 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0 allows a non-admin moderator to bypass email-change restrictions, allowing a takeover of non-staff accounts. This issue is patched in versions 3.5.4, 2025.11.2, 2025.12.1, and 2026.1.0. As a workaround, ensure moderators are trusted or enable the "require_change_email_confirmation" setting.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 9% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
DI
discourse · discourse
< 3.5.4; >= 2025.11.0-latest, < 2025.11.2; >= 2025.12.0-latest, < 2025.12.1; >= 2026.1.0-latest, < 2026.1.0 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-69289
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-69289
Mitigation
https://github.com/discourse/discourse/security/advisories/GHSA-p39j-x54c-rwqq
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