CVE-2005-2536
pstotext before 1.8g does not properly use the "-dSAFER" option when calling Ghostscript to extract plain text from PostScript and PDF files, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a malicious PostScript file.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (2.34%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
pstotext before 1.8g does not properly use the "-dSAFER" option when calling Ghostscript to extract plain text from PostScript and PDF files, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a malicious PostScript file.
- CVSS 2.0
- 7.5 HIGHAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
- EPSS
- 2.34% probability · 83th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Affected
- pstotext/pstotext
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 2.3% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://secunia.com/advisories/16183/Vendor Advisory
- http://secunia.com/advisories/16305
- http://secunia.com/advisories/16624
- http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-792
- http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200507-29.xmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/14378
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/21498
- http://secunia.com/advisories/16183/Vendor Advisory
- http://secunia.com/advisories/16305
- http://secunia.com/advisories/16624
- http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-792
- http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200507-29.xmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/14378
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/21498
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.