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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2018-15908

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-08-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.23 or later.
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
In Artifex Ghostscript 9.23 before 2018-08-23, attackers are able to supply malicious PostScript files to bypass .tempfile restrictions and write files.

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

In Artifex Ghostscript 9.23 before 2018-08-23, attackers can supply malicious PostScript files to bypass .tempfile restrictions and write files to arbitrary locations on the filesystem. This restriction bypass enables arbitrary file write, potentially leading to privilege escalation or system compromise.

MitigationUpdate to Ghostscript version 9.23 or later (post 2018-08-23). Consider enabling sandboxed execution modes if available in the deployment environment.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04= 16.04= 18.04
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 7.6
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
Affected:= 7.6
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
GhostscriptApplication
Affected:<= 9.23

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. Verify Ghostscript is installed
    Run 'gs --version' or check for the presence of ghostscript package using your system package manager (dpkg -l | grep ghostscript, rpm -qa | grep ghostscript, or apt list --installed 2>/dev/null | grep ghostscript)
    Affected if Ghostscript is installed and responds to version query
  2. Identify installed Ghostscript version
    Execute 'gs --version' and note the output. For packaged installations, use 'dpkg -s ghostscript' on Debian/Ubuntu or 'rpm -qi ghostscript' on RHEL to get the full version string including release number
    Affected if The version returned is 9.23 or any version lower than 9.23
  3. Confirm OS-level Ghostscript package version (if applicable)
    On Debian/Ubuntu run 'apt-cache policy ghostscript' or 'dpkg -l | grep ghostscript'. On RHEL run 'rpm -qa | grep -i ghost' to list all ghostscript-related packages
    Affected if The installed package version corresponds to Ghostscript <= 9.23, which on Debian 8/9 maps to the listed vulnerable versions, or on Ubuntu 14.04/16.04/18.04 maps to the vulnerable base ghostscript package
  4. Verify PostScript processing capability is accessible
    Confirm that the gs command can be executed by the user context in question. This vulnerability is exploitable when Ghostscript can be invoked to process untrusted PostScript input (e.g., via document conversion tools, PDF processors, or image thumbnail generators that rely on Ghostscript)
    Affected if Ghostscript can process PostScript files from untrusted sources without sandboxing enabled

You are affected if Ghostscript version 9.23 or earlier is installed and can process untrusted PostScript input, particularly on Debian 8.0/9.0, Ubuntu 14.04/16.04/18.04, or RHEL 7.x systems.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 9.23
Interim mitigation

Update to Ghostscript version 9.23 or later (post 2018-08-23). Consider enabling sandboxed execution modes if available in the deployment environment.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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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-2018-15908 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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