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Ghostscript before 9.21 might allow remote attackers to...

Critical severity Unreviewed Published May 14, 2022 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Apr 20, 2025

Package

No package listed— Suggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

Ghostscript before 9.21 might allow remote attackers to bypass the SAFER mode protection mechanism and consequently execute arbitrary code by leveraging type confusion in .initialize_dsc_parser.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database May 23, 2017
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 14, 2022
Last updated Apr 20, 2025

Severity

Critical

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(82nd percentile)

Weaknesses

Incorrect Type Conversion or Cast

The product does not correctly convert an object, resource, or structure from one type to a different type. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2016-7979

GHSA ID

GHSA-vwgm-gwqf-q8px

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

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