CVE-2016-7978
Use-after-free vulnerability in Ghostscript 9.20 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via vectors related to a reference leak in .setdevice.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (5.53%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
Use-after-free vulnerability in Ghostscript 9.20 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via vectors related to a reference leak in .setdevice.
- CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 CRITICALCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 5.53% probability · 93th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-416
- Affected
- artifex/ghostscript
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 5.5% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0013.html
- http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3691
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/10/05/15Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95336Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697179Issue Tracking, Patch
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-31
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0013.html
- http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3691
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/10/05/15Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95336Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697179Issue Tracking, Patch
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-31
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.