Home/CVE/Ghost is an open source content management system. Versions prior to 5.59.1 are subject to a vulnerability which allows
CVE

CVE-2023-40028

Ghost is an open source content management system. Versions prior to 5.59.1 are subject to a vulnerability which allows

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.

MEDIUM · CVSS 4.9 EPSS 0.77606
Act now
  • EPSS ≥ 0.50 - high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
  • EPSS percentile: top 1% of all CVEs by exploitation likelihood
  • Public exploit or PoC is available
Sigma rules0 YARA rules0
⬡

Weakness Classification

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CWE-59Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
▤

Affected Products & Versions

1
ghost< 5.59.1
▤

Affected Packages

1
Language-ecosystem packages (from OSV) tied to this CVE, with the version that fixes it - the dependency-level detail NVD doesn’t carry.
npm ghost MODERATE fixed in 5.59.1
⚠

Public Exploits & PoCs

1
webappsGhost CMS 5.59.1 - Arbitrary File Read2025-08-11
▣

Scoring & Timeline

4.9
MEDIUM · CVSS v3.1 · security-advisories@github.com
View on NVD
Attack Vector
Network Adjacent Local Physical
Attack Complexity
Low High
Privileges Required
None Low High
User Interaction
None Required
Scope
Unchanged Changed
Confidentiality
None Low High
Integrity
None Low High
Availability
None Low High
Published to NVD15 Aug 2023 · 06:15 PM
CVSS VectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
SSVC triage · cisa-vulnrichment
Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
SSVC asks the questions that actually drive patch urgency: is it being exploited, can attacks be automated, and how total is the impact.
🔗

References & Sources

2
Source URLs (vendor pages, mailing lists, write-ups). Exploit/PoC links are in their own section above to avoid duplication.
https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/commit/690fbf3f7302ff3f77159c0795928bdd20f41205Patch
https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/security/advisories/GHSA-9c9v-w225-v5rgVendor Advisory
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