Discourse policy plugin Auth Bypass & Info Disclosure <2025.12.2/2026.1.1
CVE-2026-26207 Published on February 26, 2026
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.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-26207 can be exploited with network access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a small impact on confidentiality and integrity, and no impact on availability.
Weakness Type
What is an AuthZ Vulnerability?
The software does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
CVE-2026-26207 has been classified to as an AuthZ vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-26207
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Affected Versions
discourse:- Version < 2025.12.2 is affected.
- Version >= 2026.1.0-latest, < 2026.1.1 is affected.
- Version >= 2026.2.0-latest, < 2026.2.0 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.