Vulnerability Database

328,409

Total vulnerabilities in the database

Ghost vulnerable to remote code execution in locale setting change

Impact

A vulnerability in an upstream library means an authenticated attacker can abuse locale input to execute arbitrary commands from a file that has previously been uploaded using the file upload functionality in the post editor.

Patches

Fixed in 5.2.3, all 5.x sites should update as soon as possible. Fixed in 4.48.2, all 4.x sites should update as soon as possible.

Workarounds

Patched versions of Ghost add validation to the locale input to prevent execution of arbitrary files. Updating Ghost is the quickest complete solution.

As a workaround, if for any reason you cannot update your Ghost instance, you can block the POST /ghost/api/admin/settings/ endpoint, which will also disable updating settings for your site.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Credits

  • devx00 - https://twitter.com/devx00

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Unknown
  • Score:
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L

No CWE or OWASP classifications available.

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.