SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityModified

CVE-2023-40028

Versions prior to 5.59.1 are subject to a vulnerability which allows authenticated users to upload files that are symlinks.

EXPLOITMEDIUM 6.5EPSS 69.0%

Does this matter?

EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 69.0%, higher than 99% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window.

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.

CVSS 3.1
6.5 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS
68.95% probability · 99th percentile
Public exploits
1 in Exploit-DB · first 11 August 2025
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-22, CWE-59
Affected
ghost/ghost
Source
security-advisories@github.com
EPSS trend
0%35%70%3 November 2026: 68.95%3 November 20263 November 2026

EPSS 69.0% since 3 November 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.

Public exploits (1)

Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.

EDB-IDTitleTypePublishedVerified
EDB-52409source ↗Ghost CMS 5.59.1 - Arbitrary File Readmultiple · İbrahimsqlwebapps11 August 2025no

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.