Add 'stop impersonating' link to user avatar dropdown when impersonating

ted · August 21, 2025, 6:22am

We just merged an experimental feature that lets you impersonate a user without having to log out after.

github.com/discourse/discourse

DEV: Allow impersonation without session swapping

main ← feature/persistent-session-impersonation

opened 07:43AM - 11 Aug 25 UTC

Drenmi

+356 -11

### What is this feature? The current impersonation feature works by signing …you in as the user you are impersonating. This has the side effect of invalidating your own session and forcing you to log out and in again. In this experimental implementation you keep your existing session, but `DefaultCurrentUserProvider` returns the user being impersonated, allowing you to see the site from their perspective. ![impersonation](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/61826378-62d2-427f-8967-63f8bb42d3b4) ### Security There are two immediate questions to ask here: **What if the application code path is compromised?** The new implementation uses the same code path as the old one (with `ImpersonateController#create` as an entry point), and (critically) is behind the same guardian check. **What if the database is compromised?** As an implementation detail, this has a new field `impersonated_user_id` on the `UserAuthToken`. This table already has a `user_id` associated with the session, so if the table is compromised, it is already a pre-existing one. So this implementation should have the exact same surface area and risk profile as the existing one.

If you want to use this, enable the hidden site setting experimental_impersonationand report any issues here.

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Add 'stop impersonating' link to user avatar dropdown when impersonating

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