CVE-2026-26973

Medium

Description

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Versions prior to 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, and 2026.2.0 have an IDOR (Insecure Direct Object Reference) in `ReviewableNotesController`. When `enable_category_group_moderation` is enabled, a user belonging to a category moderation group can create or delete their own notes on **any** reviewable in the system, including reviewables in categories they do not moderate. The controller used an unscoped `Reviewable.find` and the `ensure_can_see` guard only checked whether the user could access the review queue in general, not whether they could access the specific reviewable. Only instances with `enable_category_group_moderation` enabled are affected. Staff users (admins/moderators) are not impacted as they already have access to all reviewables. The issue is patched in versions 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, and 2026.2.0 by scoping the reviewable lookup through `Reviewable.viewable_by(current_user)`. As a workaround, disable the `enable_category_group_moderation` site setting. This removes the attack surface as only staff users will have access to the review queue.

SeverityMedium
CVSS4.3
Exploit probability—
ProductDiscourse
PublishedFeb 26, 2026
First seenFeb 26, 2026

How to fix

Update
  • discourse discourse2025.12.0, 2026.1.1 or later

Affected products

ProductAffected versionsFixed in
discourse discoursev < 2025.12.0, 2026.1.0 ≤ v < 2026.1.1, 2026.2.02025.12.0, 2026.1.1

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