CVE-2023-40028

Arbitrary file read via symlinks in Ghost

MEDIUM
6.5
CVSS Score
Published: August 15, 2023 at 05:25 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:15 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsGhostGhost

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Severity
MEDIUM6.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 69%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

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

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

Ghost· Ghostwordpress-plugin
95%
v < 5.59.1
Affected range stops below 5.59.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 5.59.1
Affected range stops below 5.59.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-22CWE-59

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