CVE-2018-16542: Medium severity Artifex Ghostscript vulnerability

Published Aug 23, 2018
·
Updated

In Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24, attackers able to supply crafted PostScript files could use insufficient interpreter stack-size checking during error handling to crash the interpreter.

Other sources

It was discovered that ghostscript did not properly handle certain stack overflow error conditions. A specially crafted PostScript document could exploit this to crash ghostscript or, possibly, execute arbitrary code in the context of the ghostscript process.

Patch: http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git;a=commitdiff;h=b575e1ec42

Red Hat

Affected Software

13 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/ghostscript<9.24
9.24
Artifex Ghostscript<9.24
redhat Enterprise Linux=7.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop=7.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Server=7.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Server Eus=7.5
redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation=7.0
Debian Debian Linux=8.0
Debian Debian Linux=9.0
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=14.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=16.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=18.04
debian/ghostscript
9.53.3~dfsg-7+deb11u79.53.3~dfsg-7+deb11u1110.0.0~dfsg-11+deb12u810.05.1~dfsg-1+deb13u110.06.0~dfsg-3

Event History

Sep 5, 2018
CVE Published
via MITRE·06:00 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·06:00 PM
Description
Feb 20, 2026
Data Sourced
via Ubuntu·04:13 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Data Sourced
via Launchpad·04:13 PM
Description
Data Sourced
via Debian·04:13 PM
DescriptionAffected Software

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is CVE-2018-16542?

CVE-2018-16542 is a vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24 that allows attackers to crash the interpreter by supplying crafted PostScript files with insufficient interpreter stack-size checking during error handling.

2

What is the severity of CVE-2018-16542?

The severity of CVE-2018-16542 is high, with a severity value of 5.5.

3

What software is affected by CVE-2018-16542?

Artifex Ghostscript versions before 9.24 are affected, as well as certain versions of Redhat Enterprise Linux, Debian Debian Linux, and Canonical Ubuntu Linux.

4

How can I fix CVE-2018-16542?

To fix CVE-2018-16542, update Artifex Ghostscript to version 9.24 or later, and update affected Linux distributions to the specified versions.

5

Where can I find more information about CVE-2018-16542?

More information about CVE-2018-16542 can be found at the provided reference links.

Contact

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