Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2018-16513

In Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24, attackers able to supply crafted PostScript files could use a type confusion in the setcolor function to crash the interpreter or possibly have unspecified other impact.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity though user interaction is required and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 5 products from artifex, from canonical, from debian and 2 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2018, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2018-09-05T13:29:00.370

Last Modified

2024-11-21T03:52:53.147

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 7.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: MEDIUM
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

8.6

Impact Score

6.4

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-704

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	artifex	ghostscript	< 9.24	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	16.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.04	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	8.0	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	9.0	Yes
Application	artifex	gpl_ghostscript	< 9.26	Yes
Application	pulsesecure	pulse_connect_secure	< 8.2r12.1	Yes
Application	pulsesecure	pulse_connect_secure	< 8.3r7.1	Yes
Application	pulsesecure	pulse_connect_secure	< 9.0r3.4	Yes

References

http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=b326a71659b7837d3acde954b18bda1a6f5e9498 ([email protected])
https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699655 Issue Tracking, Permissions Required, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44101 Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00015.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-12 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K22141757?utm_source=f5support&amp%3Butm_medium=RSS ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3768-1/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://www.artifex.com/news/ghostscript-security-resolved/ Patch, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4288 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=b326a71659b7837d3acde954b18bda1a6f5e9498 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699655 Issue Tracking, Permissions Required, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44101 Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00015.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-12 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K22141757?utm_source=f5support&amp%3Butm_medium=RSS (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3768-1/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.artifex.com/news/ghostscript-security-resolved/ Patch, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4288 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For artifex's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.