HEIF image exploit chains into OpenAI internal GitHub via Discourse forum bug
jedisct1 · x · 2026-09-18
Hacktron researchers disclosed a chained attack on OpenAI: the community forum runs Discourse, which shipped an outdated libheif image decoder with a bug fixed upstream but never labeled as a security fix. A crafted HEIF upload yielded remote code execution on community.openai.com.
A second flaw in OpenAI's single sign-on ("log in with OpenAI") turned the forum foothold into access to actual ChatGPT and Codex accounts, ending with a pull request inside OpenAI's internal GitHub.
Key lesson: because the libheif fix wasn't tagged as security-critical, many sites never patched — off-the-shelf forum software like Discourse is a wide attack surface.
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