CVE-2023-43657
Improper escaping of encrypted topic titles can lead to Cross-site Scripting under non-default site configuration
discourse-encrypt is a plugin that provides a secure communication channel through Discourse. Improper escaping of encrypted topic titles could lead to a cross site scripting (XSS) issue when a site has content security policy (CSP) headers disabled. Having CSP disabled is a non-default configuration, and having it disabled with discourse-encrypt installed will result in a warning in the Discourse admin dashboard. This has been fixed in commit 9c75810af9 which is included in the latest version of the discourse-encrypt plugin. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should ensure that CSP headers are enabled and properly configured.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Improper escaping of encrypted topic titles can lead to Cross-site Scripting under non-default site configuration
discourse-encrypt is a plugin that provides a secure communication channel through Discourse. Improper escaping of encrypted topic titles could lead to a cross site scripting (XSS) issue when a site has content security policy (CSP) headers disabled. Having CSP disabled is a non-default configuration, and having it disabled with discourse-encrypt installed will result in a warning in the Discourse admin dashboard. This has been fixed in commit 9c75810af9 which is included in the latest version of the discourse-encrypt plugin. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should ensure that CSP headers are enabled and properly configured.
- Record
CVE-2023-43657- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-48046
discourse-encrypt is a plugin that provides a secure communication channel through Discourse. Improper escaping of encrypted topic titles could lead to a cross site scripting (XSS) issue when a site has content security policy (CSP) headers disabled. Having CSP disabled is a non-default configuration, and having it disabled with discourse-encrypt installed will result in a warning in the Discourse admin dashboard. This has been fixed in commit 9c75810af9 which is included in the latest version of the discourse-encrypt plugin. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should ensure that CSP headers are enabled and properly configured.
- Record
EUVD-2023-48046- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
NVD
discourse-encrypt is a plugin that provides a secure communication channel through Discourse. Improper escaping of encrypted topic titles could lead to a cross site scripting (XSS) issue when a site has content security policy (CSP) headers disabled. Having CSP disabled is a non-default configuration, and having it disabled with discourse-encrypt installed will result in a warning in the Discourse admin dashboard. This has been fixed in commit 9c75810af9 which is included in the latest version of the discourse-encrypt plugin. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should ensure that CSP headers are enabled and properly configured.
- Record
CVE-2023-43657- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 3.1
- 6.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
Improper escaping of encrypted topic titles can lead to Cross-site Scripting under non-default site configuration
discourse-encrypt is a plugin that provides a secure communication channel through Discourse. Improper escaping of encrypted topic titles could lead to a cross site scripting (XSS) issue when a site has content security policy (CSP) headers disabled. Having CSP disabled is a non-default configuration, and having it disabled with discourse-encrypt installed will result in a warning in the Discourse admin dashboard. This has been fixed in commit 9c75810af9 which is included in the latest version of the discourse-encrypt plugin. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should ensure that CSP headers are enabled and properly configured.
- Record
CVE-2023-43657- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-43657 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.2) in Discourse Discourse-encrypt, published September 28, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.59%, the 48th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
github.com/discourse/discourse-encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-5fh6-wp7p-xx7v
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-43657