Summary
Ghost: Paid gift memberships obtainable at minimal cost via the donations feature
Vulnerable versions
This vulnerability is present in Ghost from v6.27.0 up to v6.43.1.
How to update
For self-hosters using Docker, find Docker’s official Ghost image on Docker Hub and follow the documentation on updating a Docker-based Ghost instance.
For self-hosters using Ghost-CLI, see the documentation for updating Ghost to the latest version.
Workarounds
If upgrading immediately is not possible, you can remove the vulnerable checkout path by disabling the donations feature in Ghost Admin under Settings → Membership → Tips & donations until the upgrade is applied.
References
Ghost thanks sane100400 and p4p3r for disclosing this vulnerability responsibly.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email Ghost at [email protected].
Impact
A vulnerability in Ghost's public donation checkout flow allowed an unauthenticated attacker to obtain full paid gift memberships for a minimal payment. No customer or member data was exposed, and the issue could not be used to steal money from a site or its members.
CVE-2026-59817 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (6.44.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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v6.44.0 contains a fix for this issue.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-59817? CVE-2026-59817 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in ghost (npm), affecting versions >= 6.27.0, < 6.44.0. It is fixed in 6.44.0.
- How severe is CVE-2026-59817? CVE-2026-59817 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of ghost are affected by CVE-2026-59817? ghost (npm) versions >= 6.27.0, < 6.44.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-59817? Yes. CVE-2026-59817 is fixed in 6.44.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-59817 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-59817 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-59817 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-59817? Upgrade
ghostto 6.44.0 or later.