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.
CVE-2023-40028
“▲” beside the score: it is higher than NVD's CVSS score.
Score elevated to 7.8 because EPSS predicted 69% probability of exploitation within the next 30 days (99th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs) when EchelonGraph scored this CVE. NVD baseline CVSS 4.9 retained for reference. Confidence: see factors.
- High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 69%
- Public exploit or proof-of-concept code is available
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 4.9
- EG Score
- 7.8HIGHhigh confidence
- EG Risk
- 50EG Risk 50/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity49% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 4.9 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation69% × 40%FIRST EPSS: the 30-day exploitation probability when EchelonGraph scored this CVE.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at every mission impact level.Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines. - EPSS PROB
- 69%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99th
- KEV
- Not listed
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (7.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 7.8 is EPSS's lift toward 9.0 from its impact severity (EG Severity, CVSS 4.9 MEDIUM): a likelihood of exploitation, not impact.
- EG Severity
- 4.9 MEDIUMCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.NVD CVSS v3 · CVSS v3.0 or v3.1
- EG Likelihood
- 69% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-17). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at every mission impact level.CISA BOD 26-04: 60 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at every mission impact level.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)60 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
August 15, 2023
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (2)
- security-advisories@github · CVE Programhttps://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/commit/690fbf3f7302ff3f77159c0795928bdd20f41205Patch
- security-advisories@github · CVE Programhttps://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/security/advisories/GHSA-9c9v-w225-v5rgVendor Advisory
Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
npm(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ghost | — |
| — |
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 21× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 81 of 137 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 19 repeat rows among the latest 100 are merged into the row they repeat. The 56 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-10-21 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-20 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-18 07:54 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-16 16:36 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-14 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-13 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-13 06:54 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-10-12 18:21 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 21:47 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-10 19:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-09 20:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-07 23:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-06 15:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-03 14:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-01 19:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-30 16:28 UTCEG score recompute▲ 0.80
- 2026-09-30 15:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-26 15:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-24 14:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-23 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-23 02:32 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-20 20:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-18 19:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-17 19:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
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- 2026-09-16 14:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-16 05:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-13 16:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-12 14:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-11 14:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-08 21:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-05 15:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-04 05:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-03 21:16 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-02 14:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-30 19:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-30 01:20 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-28 21:39 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-27 14:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-26 14:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 69% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-23 00:17 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 68% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-21 23:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 68% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-19 17:02 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 68% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-18 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 68% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-17 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 68% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-17 10:25 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-16 14:54 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 68% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-16 02:12 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-15 01:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-13 21:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-12 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-11 13:39 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-08 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-07 16:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-05 19:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-08-02 04:35 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-30 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-30 01:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-28 15:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-26 14:52 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-25 14:16 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-24 14:16 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-23 02:25 UTCEG score recompute▲ 2.10
- 2026-07-22 23:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-21 15:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-20 17:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-19 14:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-19 02:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-16 17:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-15 16:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-15 12:49 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-15 01:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-13 22:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-13 06:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-12 05:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
- 2026-07-11 08:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 58% · 98th percentile
Publicly available exploits
(7 references)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Exploit-DB entry, 6 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.
- Exploit-DBEDB-52409Published Aug 11, 2025
Ghost CMS 5.59.1 - Arbitrary File Read
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCgodylockz/CVE-2023-40028Published Jan 20, 2025
POC for CVE-2023-40028: Ghost CMS Arbitrary File Read
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCrvizx/CVE-2023-40028Published Dec 28, 2024
CVE-2023-40028 PoC Exploit
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCrvzsec/CVE-2023-40028Published Dec 28, 2024
CVE-2023-40028 PoC Exploit
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCmonke443/CVE-2023-40028Published Dec 21, 2024
Arbitrary file read in Ghost-CMS allows an attacker to upload a malicious ZIP file with a symlink.
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoC0xDTC/Ghost-5.58-Arbitrary-File-Read-CVE-2023-40028Published Dec 12, 2024
CVE-2023-40028 affects Ghost, an open source content management system, where versions prior to 5.59.1 allow 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.
Open source ↗ - Open source ↗GitHub PoC0xyassine/CVE-2023-40028Published Mar 23, 2024
Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)
Same product
10 shownnpm:ghost
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2023-40028?
When was the CVE record for CVE-2023-40028 published?
Is CVE-2023-40028 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-40028?
How do I remediate CVE-2023-40028?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2023-40028
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