CVE-2018-16540: artifex ghostscript Use After Free
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2018-16540 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in artifex ghostscript. EPSS estimates a 1.56% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 75.2% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 11 · Related 7Timeline
- 05-09-2018PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 05-08-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
In Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24, attackers able to supply crafted PostScript files to the builtin PDF14 converter could use a use-after-free in copydevice handling to crash the interpreter or possibly have unspecified other impact.
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 3 sources · 2 versions- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
1.56%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
75%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 1.56% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEVNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
ENISA CNWNot in the ENISA CNW catalog.
CIRCLNot in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: local access, no authentication, user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Redhat8 products
- enterprise_linuxEOL7.0
- enterprise_linux_desktop7.0
- enterprise_linux_server7.0 | 7.6
- enterprise_linux_server_aus7.6
- enterprise_linux_server_eus7.5 | 7.6
Debian2 products
- ghostscript< 9.22~dfsg-3
- debian_linuxEOL8.0 | 9.0
Artifex1 product
- ghostscript< 9.24
Canonical1 product
- ubuntu_linuxEOL14.04 | 16.04 | 18.04
Ubuntu1 product
- ghostscript< 9.10~dfsg-0ubuntu10.13 | < 9.18~dfsg~0-0ubuntu2.9 | < 9.22~dfsg+1-0ubuntu1.2
5 vendors · 13 products
References
13 links- bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699661X Refsource MISCIssue TrackingPermissions RequiredVendor Advisory
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00015.htmlMailing ListX Refsource MLISTThird Party Advisory