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CVE-2018-16540
In Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24, attackers able to supply crafted PostScript files to the builtin PDF14 converter could use a…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 1.6%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 25% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
In Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24, attackers able to supply crafted PostScript files to the builtin PDF14 converter could use a use-after-free in copydevice handling to crash the interpreter or possibly have unspecified other impact.
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 6 years later
· 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.0 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.6% · top 25% of all CVEs (10 Nov 2026)
Loading the EPSS history…
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
9
- RHSA-2019:0229 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=c432131c3fdb2143e148e8ba88555f7f7a63b25e (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- GLSA-201811-12 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
- https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699661 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- USN-3768-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
- https://www.artifex.com/news/ghostscript-security-resolved/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- DSA-4288 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20180913 [SECURITY] [DLA 1504-1] ghostscript security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- RHBA-2019:0327 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
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)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2018-8349 (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)
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[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2018-16540)Record last updated .