dbcve.org
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2018-10194

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The set_text_distance function in devices/vector/gdevpdts.c in the pdfwrite component in Artifex Ghostscript through 9.22 does not prevent overflows in text-positioning calculation, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted PDF document.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the set_text_distance function within Ghostscript's pdfwrite component (devices/vector/gdevpdts.c). The function fails to properly validate text-positioning calculations, allowing specially crafted PDF documents to trigger overflows that can cause denial of service (application crash) or potentially enable arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate Ghostscript to a version beyond 9.22 that contains the patched set_text_distance function, or apply the vendor-supplied patch to address the overflow in text-positioning calculations.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04= 16.04= 17.10= 18.04
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 7.7
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
Affected:= 7.5= 7.7
Enterprise Linux Server TusOperating system
Affected:= 7.7
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 7.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if Ghostscript is installed
    Run 'gs --version' or 'gs -v' to get the installed Ghostscript version. On some systems the command may be 'ghostscript --version'.
    Affected if Ghostscript is not installed or the command fails - the system is not affected by this vulnerability.
  2. Verify the Ghostscript version
    Compare the installed version number to the affected range. The vulnerability exists in versions up to and including 9.22. The fixed version is 9.23 and above. Check your version against this threshold.
    Affected if Installed version is 9.22 or earlier - the system is likely affected.
  3. Confirm pdfwrite device availability
    Run 'gs -h' or 'gs --help' to list available devices. Look for 'pdfwrite' in the output. The vulnerability is in the pdfwrite device component.
    Affected if The pdfwrite device is listed as available - the vulnerable code path exists on this system.
  4. Check for untrusted PDF processing capability
    Examine if Ghostscript is used to process PDF files from untrusted or external sources. This could be via web services, document converters, print spoolers, or user-uploaded content pipelines.
    Affected if Ghostscript processes untrusted PDF documents - the exploitation vector is present.

The system is affected if Ghostscript version 9.22 or earlier is installed and the pdfwrite device is available for processing PDF documents.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Ghostscript to a version beyond 9.22 that contains the patched set_text_distance function, or apply the vendor-supplied patch to address the overflow in text-positioning calculations.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,800
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,080.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-10194 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-10194 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data