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Ghost CMS

product · product:ghost-cms

Coverage
1
first 2026-05-25 → last 2026-10-11
Latest activity
2026-05-25
Attackers used a Ghost SQL injection to take over 700+ blogs and plant fake verification pages that ran…
Peak priority
notable
1 notable
Targets
·
no sector or region stated
Sources cited
3
3 hosts

Defender insights

What each entry about Ghost CMS tells a defender to do, newest first.

2026-05-25NOTABLEexploitedAttackers used a Ghost SQL injection to take over 700+ blogs and plant fake verification pages that ran stealers on visitors' PCs

Exposure · detection

Story timeline

  1. 2026-05-25Ghost CMS CVE-2026-26980: Content API SQL injection mass-exploited to steal Admin API keys and turn 700+ sites into ClickFix lures
    trending-vulnerabilitiesAttackers used a Ghost SQL injection to take over 700+ blogs and plant fake verification pages that ran stealers on visitors' PCs

Hunting pivots

CVEs (exploited first)
Releases covered
Ghost CMS
ATT&CK techniques (7 across 5 tactics)

7 techniques observed across 1 entry about this entity, derived from entry metadata and body evidence, never asserted without a published entry behind it · pinned to MITRE ATT&CK v19.2 · compare on the matrix · Navigator layer (JSON)

  • Initial AccessDrive-by Compromise · Exploit Public-Facing Application
  • ExecutionCommand and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell · User Execution: Malicious Copy and Paste
  • StealthSystem Binary Proxy Execution: Rundll32
  • Credential AccessUnsecured Credentials
  • Command and ControlIngress Tool Transfer

Initial Access TA0001

T1189Drive-by Compromise×1

Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing. Multiple ways of delivering exploit code to a browser exist (i.e., Drive-by Target), including:

Evidence: 2026-05-25/ghost-cms-cve-2026-26980-clickfix-the-cms-compromise-to-endp · ATT&CK page ↗

T1190Exploit Public-Facing Application×1

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network. The weakness in the system can be a software bug, a temporary glitch, or a misconfiguration.

Evidence: 2026-05-25/ghost-cms-cve-2026-26980-clickfix-the-cms-compromise-to-endp · ATT&CK page ↗

Execution TA0002

T1059.001Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell×1

Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution. PowerShell is a powerful interactive command-line interface and scripting environment included in the Windows operating system. Adversaries can use PowerShell to perform a number of actions, including discovery of information and execution of code. Examples include the <code>Start-Process</code> cmdlet which can be used to run an executable and the <code>Invoke-Command</code> cmdlet which runs a command locally or on a remote computer (though administrator permissions are required to use PowerShell to connect to remote systems).

Evidence: 2026-05-25/ghost-cms-cve-2026-26980-clickfix-the-cms-compromise-to-endp · ATT&CK page ↗

T1204.004User Execution: Malicious Copy and Paste×1

An adversary may rely upon a user copying and pasting code in order to gain execution. Users may be subjected to social engineering to get them to copy and paste code directly into a Command and Scripting Interpreter. One such strategy is "ClickFix," in which adversaries present users with seemingly helpful solutions (such as prompts to fix errors or complete CAPTCHAs) that instead instruct the user to copy and paste malicious code.

Evidence: 2026-05-25/ghost-cms-cve-2026-26980-clickfix-the-cms-compromise-to-endp · ATT&CK page ↗

Stealth TA0005

T1218.011System Binary Proxy Execution: Rundll32×1

Adversaries may abuse rundll32.exe to proxy execution of malicious code. Using rundll32.exe, vice executing directly (i.e. Shared Modules), may avoid triggering security tools that may not monitor execution of the rundll32.exe process because of allowlists or false positives from normal operations. Rundll32.exe is commonly associated with executing DLL payloads (ex: <code>rundll32.exe {DLLname, DLLfunction}</code>).

Evidence: 2026-05-25/ghost-cms-cve-2026-26980-clickfix-the-cms-compromise-to-endp · ATT&CK page ↗

Credential Access TA0006

T1552Unsecured Credentials×1

Adversaries may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials. These credentials can be stored and/or misplaced in many locations on a system, including plaintext files (e.g. Shell History), operating system or application-specific repositories (e.g. Credentials in Registry), or other specialized files/artifacts (e.g. Private Keys).

Evidence: 2026-05-25/ghost-cms-cve-2026-26980-clickfix-the-cms-compromise-to-endp · ATT&CK page ↗

Command and Control TA0011

T1105Ingress Tool Transfer×1

Adversaries may transfer tools or other files from an external system into a compromised environment. Tools or files may be copied from an external adversary-controlled system to the victim network through the command and control channel or through alternate protocols such as ftp. Once present, adversaries may also transfer/spread tools between victim devices within a compromised environment (i.e. Lateral Tool Transfer).

Evidence: 2026-05-25/ghost-cms-cve-2026-26980-clickfix-the-cms-compromise-to-endp · ATT&CK page ↗

Entries about Ghost CMS (1)

2026-05-25 · view entry permalink →

NOTABLECVE-2026-26980exploitedupdatedNATOB2

Ghost CMS CVE-2026-26980: Content API SQL injection mass-exploited to steal Admin API keys and turn 700+ sites into ClickFix lures

CVE-2026-26980 is an unauthenticated SQL injection in the Ghost CMS Content API, present from 3.24.0 to 6.19.0 and fixed in 6.19.1; because it gives access to a site's API keys, Ghost recommends reviewing staff users and rotating keys after upgrading (Ghost, GHSA-w52v-v783-gw97). There is no application-level workaround, since the Content API key is public by design; a reverse proxy or WAF rule blocking Content API requests whose filter contains slug:[ (or slug%3A%5B) is the temporary mitigation (Ghost, GHSA-w52v-v783-gw97).

XLab detected the campaign on 2026-05-07, confirmed 156 victim domains by 2026-05-10 and more than 700 by its report of 2026-05-21 (XLab, 2026-05-21). The attackers used the SQL injection to obtain each site's Admin API key, then used the Admin API to edit articles in bulk and inject a JavaScript loader; cloaked visitors were shown a fake human-verification page that told them to paste a command into the Windows Run dialog, which unpacked and ran a batch file, a hidden PowerShell download and a DLL launched through rundll32 (XLab, 2026-05-21). From 2026-05-16 the final payload became an Electron-based stealer that persists as a login item and polls its server every 30 seconds (XLab, 2026-05-21). BleepingComputer reported the campaign with victims including university and company blogs (BleepingComputer, 2026-05-24).

The attacker exploited the high-risk SQL injection vulnerability CVE-2026-26980 in Ghost CMS to obtain the target site's Admin API Key without authorization

XLab 2026-05-21
Correctionrun 2026-10-11T1307Z-audittitleheadlinesummarytagsregionssectorstechniquesaffected_productscvessourcesevidenceclassificationbodydeep_divedeep_dive_categorysourcing_note

Ghost's advisory says there is no application-level workaround and that restricting the Content API key does not mitigate the flaw, because the key is public by design; the temporary control is a reverse-proxy or WAF rule blocking slug:[ filters (Ghost, GHSA-w52v-v783-gw97). The earlier advice to restrict the Content API to trusted origins would not have protected a site.

vulnerability25 May 05:00Zmulti-sourceOpen finding →
Sources: Ghost · XLab · BleepingComputer

Co-occurring entities

Derived: referenced by the same focused operational entries (weekly summaries and report roundups don't count); ×N counts the shared entries.

Where this entity is cited

  • Vulns1

Source distribution

  • bleepingcomputer.com1 (33%)
  • blog.xlab.qianxin.com1 (33%)
  • github.com1 (33%)