CVE-2023-40028: Arbitrary file read via symlinks in Ghost

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 69.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2023-08-15 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-22

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 products

TryGhost Ghost: before 5.59.1 — fixed in 5.59.1

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: TryGhost Ghost 5.59.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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