CVE-2018-16802: High severity Artifex Ghostscript vulnerability

Published Sep 10, 2018
·
Updated

An issue was discovered in Artifex Ghostscript before 9.25. Incorrect "restoration of privilege" checking when running out of stack during exception handling could be used by attackers able to supply crafted PostScript to execute code using the "pipe" instruction. This is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2018-16509.

Affected Software

14 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/ghostscript<9.25
9.25
Artifex Ghostscript<9.25
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
redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop=7.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Server=7.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Server Aus=7.6
redhat Enterprise Linux Server Eus=7.6
redhat Enterprise Linux Server Tus=7.6
redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation=7.0
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 10, 2018
CVE Published
via MITRE·04:00 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·04:00 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 the severity of CVE-2018-16802?

The severity of CVE-2018-16802 is high with a CVSS score of 7.8.

2

How can attackers exploit CVE-2018-16802?

Attackers can exploit CVE-2018-16802 by supplying crafted PostScript to execute code using the "pipe" instruction.

3

Which software versions are affected by CVE-2018-16802?

The affected software versions include Artifex Ghostscript before 9.25, and certain versions of Ubuntu, Debian, Canonical Ubuntu Linux, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server.

4

What is the remedy for CVE-2018-16802?

The remedy for CVE-2018-16802 is to update to Ghostscript version 9.25 or later.

5

Where can I find more information about CVE-2018-16802?

You can find more information about CVE-2018-16802 at the following references: [Reference 1](https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2018/q3/228), [Reference 2](http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git;a=commit;h=3e5d316b72e3965b7968bb1d96baa137cd063ac6), [Reference 3](http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git;a=commit;h=643b24dbd002fb9c131313253c307cf3951b3d47).

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