GHSA-78x2-cwp9-5j42 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-284 vulnerability in ghost. A fix is available for ghost — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Ghost's improper authentication allows access to member information and actions
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.
- 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 GHSA-78x2-cwp9-5j42.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-78x2-cwp9-5j42 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
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.
ghostnpm@tryghost/portalnpmDescription
Impact
Improper authentication on some endpoints used for member actions would allow an attacker to perform member-only actions, and read member information.
Vulnerable versions
This security vulnerability is present in Ghost v4.46.0-v5.89.5.
Ghost(Pro) customers are automatically updated to fixed versions ahead of disclosure.
If you're a self-hoster, please follow our update instructions.
Patches
v5.89.5 contains a fix for this issue.
Workarounds
Disable site membership in Ghost settings.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | ghost | ≥ 4.46.0&&< 5.89.5 | 5.89.5npm install ghost@5.89.5 |
| 📦npm | @tryghost/portal | ≥ 1.22.2&&< 2.39.0 | 2.39.0npm install @tryghost/portal@2.39.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
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 5.89.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-78x2-cwp9-5j42 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-78x2-cwp9-5j42 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-78x2-cwp9-5j42. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-78x2-cwp9-5j42 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-78x2-cwp9-5j42 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.