What is CVE-2023-32235?

CVE-2023-32235 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ghost, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2023-05-05.

How severe is CVE-2023-32235?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.

Is CVE-2023-32235 known to be exploited?

5 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Path Traversal in Ghost

CVE-2023-32235

Ghost before 5.42.1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files within the active theme's folder via /assets/built%2F..%2F..%2F/ directory traversal. This occurs in frontend/web/middleware/static-theme.js.

Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)

Published 2023-05-05 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.391 (98.5th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Moderate probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — watch for active exploitation reports. 99th percentile — 98.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.391 · newest: 0.391 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Ghost

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-22 — Path Traversal

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/commit/378dd913aa8d0fd0da29b0ffced8884579598b0f (Patch)
github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/compare/v5.42.0...v5.42.1 (Release Notes)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-32235?: CVE-2023-32235 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ghost, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2023-05-05.
How severe is CVE-2023-32235?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2023-32235 known to be exploited?: 5 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.