CVE-2018-17961: artifex ghostscript
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2018-17961 is a high (CVSS 8.6) vulnerability in artifex ghostscript. EPSS estimates a 9.98% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 95.6% of scored vulnerabilities. 2 public exploits are recorded.
Weaponized exploit (exploit-database, 09-10-2018)
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 9 · Related 5Timeline
- 15-10-2018PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 05-08-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
Artifex Ghostscript 9.25 and earlier allows attackers to bypass a sandbox protection mechanism via vectors involving errorhandler setup. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2018-17183.
CVSS metrics
5 scores · 4 sources · 2 versions- OSV · AlpineEcosystem advisory · calculated8.6HighCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated8.6HighCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated8.6HighCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
9.98%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
96%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 9.98% 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
2 foundExploit Reference (openwall.com)
Maturity: unknown
ghostscript - executeonly Bypass with errorhandler Setup
Maturity: weaponized
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: local access, no authentication, user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Redhat6 products
- enterprise_linux_desktop7.0
- enterprise_linux_server7.0
- enterprise_linux_server_aus7.6
- enterprise_linux_server_eus7.6
- enterprise_linux_server_tus7.6
Debian2 products
- ghostscript< 9.25~dfsg-3
- debian_linuxEOL8.0 | 9.0
Alpine1 product
- ghostscript< 9.25-r1
Artifex1 product
- ghostscript< 9.25
Canonical1 product
- ubuntu_linuxEOL14.04 | 16.04 | 18.04 | 18.10
Ubuntu1 product
- ghostscript< 9.25~dfsg+1-0ubuntu0.14.04.2 | < 9.25~dfsg+1-0ubuntu0.16.04.2 | < 9.25~dfsg+1-0ubuntu0.18.04.2
6 vendors · 12 products
References
16 links- git.ghostscript.com?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=a5a9bf8c6a63X Refsource CONFIRM
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/10/09/4Mailing ListX Refsource MLISTExploitThird Party Advisory
- git.ghostscript.com?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=a6807394bd94X Refsource CONFIRM
- bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699816X Refsource CONFIRMPermissions RequiredThird Party Advisory
- git.ghostscript.com?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=a54c9e61e7d0X Refsource CONFIRM
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/10/msg00013.htmlMailing ListX Refsource MLISTThird Party Advisory
Show all 16 references
- bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1682&desc=2X Refsource MISCPatchThird Party Advisory