dbcve.org
FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2019-14812

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.50 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
A flaw was found in all ghostscript versions 9.x before 9.50, in the .setuserparams2 procedure where it did not properly secure its privileged calls, enabling scripts to bypass `-dSAFER` restrictions. A specially crafted PostScript file could disable security protection and then have access to the file system, or execute arbitrary commands.

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

Ghostscript versions 9.x before 9.50 contain a flaw in the .setuserparams2 procedure that fails to properly secure privileged calls, allowing specially crafted PostScript files to bypass -dSAFER restrictions. This enables attackers to disable security protections and execute arbitrary commands or access the file system.

MitigationUpgrade Ghostscript to version 9.50 or later to patch the .setuserparams2 vulnerability. If upgrading is not immediately possible, consider restricting or disabling Ghostscript processing for untrusted inputs until the patch can be applied.

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
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 31
GhostscriptApplication
Affected:>= 9.00, < 9.50

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:3.1/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. Identify installed Ghostscript version
    Run 'gs --version' from command line or check the installed package via your system package manager (e.g., 'rpm -q ghostscript' or 'dpkg -l ghostscript')
    Affected if Version is 9.00 through 9.49 (any version >= 9.00 but < 9.50)

Your environment is affected if Ghostscript version 9.00 to 9.49 is installed and processes untrusted PostScript input without proper isolation.

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 9.50 or later
Fixed in 9.50
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Ghostscript to version 9.50 or later to patch the .setuserparams2 vulnerability. If upgrading is not immediately possible, consider restricting or disabling Ghostscript processing for untrusted inputs until the patch can be applied.

Fix this in Fedora Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,360
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,176.

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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-2019-14812 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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