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CVE-2023-40028

Arbitrary file read via symlinks in Ghost

CVSS 3.1 Medium 4.9

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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.

Official description from the CVE record, published by GitHub_M. Copyright © 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. See /security/cve/legal for the CVE license. View the record on cve.org

Key data

CVSS 3.1 Medium 4.9

Score published by GitHub_M in the CVE record.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

  • Attack vector: Network

    The vulnerable component can be reached over a network, possibly from the Internet.

  • Attack complexity: Low

    No special conditions are needed. The attack can be repeated at will.

  • Privileges required: High

    An account with significant privileges, such as an administrator, is needed.

  • User interaction: None

    No action from any user is needed.

  • Scope: Unchanged

    The impact stays within the vulnerable component.

  • Confidentiality impact: High

    Serious or total effect on the secrecy of data.

  • Integrity impact: None

    No effect on the trustworthiness of data.

  • Availability impact: None

    No effect on availability.

CVSS is owned and managed by FIRST.Org, Inc. (FIRST) and is used by permission. Each CVSS score on this site is shown together with its vector string, as published in the CVE record by the source named next to it. Learn more at first.org/cvss.

EPSS

Exploit Prediction Scoring System by FIRST: an estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days.
Score
0.65734 (65.7% probability)
Percentile
99.3%
Scores of
Nov 10, 2026
Model
v2026.06.15

CISA assessment as of Oct 2, 2024

Stakeholder-Specific Vulnerability Categorization (SSVC) decision points added by CISA.
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Weakness (CWE)

CWE catalog version 5.0.
CWE names: Copyright © 2006-2026, The MITRE Corporation. See /security/cve/legal for the CWE license.
  • CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory

Affected products

Products listed in the CVE record, as the CNA published them.

  • TryGhost Ghost

    • affected: < 5.59.1

References

Links listed in the CVE record. They lead to other sites, which CubePath does not control.

Timeline

  1. ID reserved
  2. Record published
  3. Record last updated

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About CubePath

CubePath is a cloud provider with data centers in Europe and the United States. It offers VPS, bare metal servers and DDoS protection.
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Data from the CVE Program (MITRE), CISA KEV and FIRST EPSS. CVSS is owned by FIRST and used by permission. Not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE, CISA or FIRST. Data as of Nov 10, 2026, 19:51 UTC. Sources and licenses