9.3

CVE-2018-16509: artifex ghostscript

Modified
AliasesRHSA-2018:3760UBUNTU-CVE-2018-16509DEBIAN-CVE-2018-16509
Published 05-09-2018Last modified 05-08-2024

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2018-16509 is a high (CVSS 9.3) vulnerability in artifex ghostscript. EPSS estimates a 92.50% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.8% of scored vulnerabilities. 3 public exploits are recorded.

Priority
Prioritiseweaponized exploit

Weaponized exploit (exploit-database, 10-09-2018)

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
9.3/10
010
High · v2.0 (NVD)
EPSS score
92.50%
0%100%
Critical · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits3reference, exploit-database, metasploit

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 11 · Related 7
DLA-1504-1DSA-4294-1MGASA-2018-0378OPENSUSE-SU-2024:10783-1RHSA-2018:2918SUSE-SU-2018:2975-1

Timeline

  1. 05-09-2018
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 05-08-2024
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

An issue was discovered in Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24. Incorrect "restoration of privilege" checking during handling of /invalidaccess exceptions could be used by attackers able to supply crafted PostScript to execute code using the "pipe" instruction.

CVSS metrics

5 scores · 4 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

92.50%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

100%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 92.50% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

3 found
  • referenceUnverified

    Exploit Reference (seclists.org)

    Maturity: unknown

  • exploit-databaselocallinuxVerified

    Ghostscript - Failed Restore Command Execution (Metasploit)

    Maturity: weaponized

  • MetasploitMetasploitremoteVerified

    Ghostscript Failed Restore Command Execution

    exploit/multi/fileformat/ghostscript_failed_restore

    Maturity: weaponized

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

No weakness data has been published for this record.

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, no authentication, user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Redhat9 products
Artifex2 products
Debian2 products
Canonical1 product
Ubuntu1 product
  • ghostscript< 9.10~dfsg-0ubuntu10.13 | < 9.18~dfsg~0-0ubuntu2.9 | < 9.22~dfsg+1-0ubuntu1.2

5 vendors · 15 products

References

24 links
Show all 24 references