How severe is CVE-2026-26980?

CVE-2026-26980 has a CVSS score of 9.4/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2026-26980?

CVE-2026-26980 affects the following packages: ghost (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2026-26980?

Update ghost to 6.19.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-26980 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2026-26980 in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ghost, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2026-26980 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Until you can upgrade, make sure every query built from user input uses parameterised statements or a prepared-statement API rather than string concatenation, and reduce the database account's privileges so an injected query cannot read or alter data beyond what the feature needs.

Is CVE-2026-26980 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 5 known exploit references for CVE-2026-26980, including 1 documented proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2026-26980?

CVE-2026-26980 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 71.1%, placing it in the 99th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2026-26980?

CVE-2026-26980 is classified as SQL Injection (CWE-89). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2026-26980?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2026-26980, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2026-26980 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2026-26980 was published on February 20, 2026 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦

📦 npm

Not in CISA KEV

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2026-26980 — ghost

CRITICALFix: TryGhost/Ghost@30868d6

CVE-2026-26980 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.4) SQL Injection vulnerability in ghost. 5 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for ghost — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Ghost has a SQL Injection in its Content API

Also known asBIT-ghost-2026-26980GHSA-w52v-v783-gw97

Published

Feb 20, 2026

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

5 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 4, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-26980.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

71.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs99th percentile — riskier than 99% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.

8other npm packages depend on this — each one inherits the vulnerability until it's patched upstream

ghostnpm

30Kdownloads / week

Description

Impact

A SQL injection vulnerability existed in Ghost's Content API that allowed unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary data from the database.

Vulnerable Versions

This vulnerability is present in Ghost v3.24.0 to v6.19.0.

Patches

v6.19.1 contains a fix for this issue.

Note: as this vulnerability lets an attacker gain access to a site's API keys, we recommend reviewing staff users and rotating keys. We generally recommend always updating Ghost to its most current version.

Workarounds

There is no application-level workaround. The Content API key is public by design, so restricting key access does not mitigate this vulnerability.

As a temporary mitigation, a reverse proxy or WAF rule can be used to block Content API requests containing slug%3A%5B or slug:[ in the query string filter parameter. Note that this may break legitimate slug filter functionality.

References

We thank Nicholas Carlini using Claude, Anthropic for disclosing this vulnerability responsibly.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [email protected].

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`ghost`	≥ 3.24.0&&< 6.19.1	6.19.1`npm install ghost@6.19.1`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

ghostghost

≥ 3.24.0 && < 6.19.1

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-52555webappsmultiple

Ghost CMS 6.19.0 - SQLi

by Maksim Rogov · May 7, 2026

Exploit-DB Source

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ghost, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update ghost to 6.19.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-26980 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Until you can upgrade, make sure every query built from user input uses parameterised statements or a prepared-statement API rather than string concatenation, and reduce the database account's privileges so an injected query cannot read or alter data beyond what the feature needs.

How to detect CVE-2026-26980

A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:

nuclei -id cve-2026-26980 -u https://target

Template: Ghost CMS Content API - SQL Injection
Severity: critical
Impact: An unauthenticated attacker can extract arbitrary data from the Ghost database including user credentials, API keys, and all content, potentially leading to full compromise of the CMS.
Remediation: Upgrade Ghost CMS to version 6.19.1 or later which uses parameterized queries for slug filter ordering.

Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (domwhewell-sage), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact A SQL injection vulnerability existed in Ghost's Content API that allowed unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary data from the database. ### Vulnerable Versions This vulnerability is present in Ghost v3.24.0 to v6.19.0. ### Patches v6.19.1 contains a fix for this issue. **Note:** as this vulnerability lets an attacker gain access to a site's API keys, we recommend reviewing staff users and rotating keys. We generally recommend always updating Ghost to its most current version. ### Workarounds There is no application-level workaround. The Content API key is public by