CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2023-40028 — Ghost is an open source content management system
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.
- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.5 (3.1)
- Published
- 2023-08-15
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- software/application
- Weaknesses
- CWE-22, CWE-59
Affected products
- ghost / ghost
Matched remediation archetype
Path traversal, unsafe upload, and file handling
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Trace untrusted filenames, archive entries, URLs, and path segments into read, write, include, extraction, and upload operations.
- Identify filesystem roots, mount permissions, symbolic-link behavior, archive handling, and whether uploaded content is web-accessible or executable.
- Review canonicalization and containment checks across supported operating systems and storage backends.
Remediate safely
- Generate server-side storage identifiers and resolve paths beneath a fixed root using filesystem-aware containment checks.
- Reject absolute, parent-relative, alternate-separator, device, link, and archive entries that escape the intended root.
- Store uploads outside executable or served paths, validate type and size, and use private atomic temporary files.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
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