CVE-2018-16863
An attacker could possibly exploit another variant of the flaw and bypass the -dSAFER protection to, for example, execute arbitrary shell commands via a specially crafted PostScript document.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (1.25%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
It was found that RHSA-2018:2918 did not fully fix CVE-2018-16509. An attacker could possibly exploit another variant of the flaw and bypass the -dSAFER protection to, for example, execute arbitrary shell commands via a specially crafted PostScript document. This only affects ghostscript 9.07 as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 1.25% probability · 69th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-184, CWE-78
- Affected
- artifex/ghostscript · redhat/enterprise linux desktop · redhat/enterprise linux server · redhat/enterprise linux server aus · redhat/enterprise linux server eus · redhat/enterprise linux server tus · redhat/enterprise linux workstation
- Source
- secalert@redhat.com
EPSS moved from 2.3% on 21 September 2026 to 1.2% on 27 October 2026.
References
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=520bb0ea7519
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=5516c614dc33
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=78911a01b67d
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=79cccf641486
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3761Third Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16863Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=520bb0ea7519
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=5516c614dc33
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=78911a01b67d
- http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=79cccf641486
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3761Third Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16863Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.