CVE-2026-26078
Discourse has authentication bypass vulnerability in the Patreon plugin webhook endpoint
Description
Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to versions 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, and 2026.2.0, when the `patreon_webhook_secret` site setting is blank, an attacker can forge valid webhook signatures by computing an HMAC-MD5 with an empty string as the key. Since the request body is known to the sender, the attacker can produce a matching signature and send arbitrary webhook payloads. This allows unauthorized creation, modification, or deletion of Patreon pledge data and triggering patron-to-group synchronization. This vulnerability is patched in versions 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, and 2026.2.0. The fix rejects webhook requests when the webhook secret is not configured, preventing signature forgery with an empty key. As a workaround, configure the `patreon_webhook_secret` site setting with a strong, non-empty secret value. When the secret is non-empty, an attacker cannot forge valid signatures without knowing the secret.
How to fix CVE-2026-26078
To remediate CVE-2026-26078, upgrade the affected package to a fixed version below.
- —upgrade to 2025.12.2 or later
Is CVE-2026-26078 being exploited?
Low — EPSS is 0.1%, meaning exploitation activity has not been observed at scale.
Affected packages (1)
- from 0, < 2025.12.2, >= 2026.1.0, < 2026.1.1
CVSS scores
| Source | Version | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| osv | CVSS 3.1 | HIGH7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N |