CVE-2017-8291
Artifex Ghostscript through 2017-04-26 allows -dSAFER bypass and remote command execution via .rsdparams type confusion with a…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 97.0%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 24 May 2022
- 2Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Artifex Ghostscript through 2017-04-26 allows -dSAFER bypass and remote command execution via .rsdparams type confusion with a "/OutputFile (%pipe%" substring in a crafted .eps document that is an input to the gs program, as exploited in the wild in April 2017.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Artifex Ghostscript Type Confusion Vulnerability.
- Added
- 24 May 2022
- Fix due (US federal)
- 14 Jun 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 24 May 2022.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module and an Exploit-DB entry for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits3
Metasploit modules1 module
- Ghostscript Type Confusion Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/unix/fileformat/ghostscript_type_confusionRank excellentdisclosed 27 Apr 2017
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Ghostscript 9.21 - Type Confusion Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 41955local, linuxpublished 2 May 2017Verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 41955 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
- 1 day later
· 1 day later
Published
- 5 years later
· 5 years later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 3 years later
· 3 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 97.0% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
11
- DSA-3838 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1036453 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2017:1230 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- 98476 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 41955 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/04/28/2 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- GLSA-201708-06 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1446063 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=04b37bbce174eed24edec7ad5b920eb93db4d47d (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697808 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-8291 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2017-17253 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2017-8291)Record last updated .