Ghost
CVE-2023-40028
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V5 - File Handling Path canonicalization, traversal prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Discovery, Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 6.5 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could access files and directories outside the intended path by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Ghost is an open source content management system. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Validate and canonicalize file paths. Use chroot or sandboxing. Reject input containing path separators or '../' sequences.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in npm
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22), which allows attackers to access files and directories outside the intended path. Ghost is an open source content management system. Versions prior to 5.59.1 are subject to a vulnerability which allows authenticated users to upload files that are symlinks. This can be exploited to perform an arbitrary file read of any file on the host operating system. Site administrators can check for exploitation of this issue by looking for unknown symlinks within Ghost's content/ folder. Version 5.59.1 contains a fix for this issue. All users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Affected products include: Ghost. Version information: prior to 5.59.1.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
Ghost is an open source content management system. Versions prior to 5.59.1 are subject to a vulnerability which allows authenticated users to upload files that are symlinks. This can be exploited to perform an arbitrary file read of any file on the host operating system. Site administrators can check for exploitation of this issue by looking for unknown symlinks within Ghost's content/ folder. Version 5.59.1 contains a fix for this issue. All users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Exploit-DB
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Path traversal exploits occur when applications use user-controlled input to construct file system paths without proper validation.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
Ghost CMS versions 5.105.0-5.130.5 and 6.0.0-6.10.3 contain an authentication bypass in their two-factor authentication
Arbitrary code execution in Ghost CMS versions 0.7.2 through 6.19.0 allows authenticated attackers with theme upload pri
An arbitrary file upload vulnerability in the file upload module of Ghost CMS v4.42.0 allows attackers to execute arbitr
An arbitrary file upload vulnerability in the file upload module of Ghost v4.39.0 allows attackers to execute arbitrary
SQL injection in Ghost CMS versions 3.24.0 through 6.19.0 allows unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary database da
Ghost through 5.85.1 allows remote attackers to bypass an authentication rate-limit protection mechanism by using many X
Ghost through 5.76.0 allows stored XSS, and resultant privilege escalation in which a contributor can take over any acco
Ghost before 5.82.0 allows CSV Injection during a member CSV export. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability
Server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in Ghost CMS < 3.10.0 allows an attacker to scan local or external netw
Ghost before 5.42.1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files within the active theme's folder via /assets/built%2
Ghost is a Node.js CMS. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in Ghost allows an attacker to access internal resources.0.0 through 6.