Vulnerability Monitor

The vendors, products, and vulnerabilities you care about

CVE-2019-14811


A flaw was found in, ghostscript versions prior to 9.50, in the .pdf_hook_DSC_Creator 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.


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 redhat, from fedoraproject and 2 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2019, 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

2019-09-03T16:15:11.573

Last Modified

2024-11-21T04:27:24.480

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 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: Secondary
    CWE-648
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-863

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application artifex ghostscript < 9.50 Yes
Application redhat openshift_container_platform 3.11 Yes
Application redhat openshift_container_platform 4.1 Yes
Operating System fedoraproject fedora 29 Yes
Operating System fedoraproject fedora 30 Yes
Operating System fedoraproject fedora 31 Yes
Operating System opensuse leap 15.0 Yes
Operating System opensuse leap 15.1 Yes
Operating System debian debian_linux 8.0 Yes
Operating System debian debian_linux 9.0 Yes
Operating System debian debian_linux 10.0 Yes

References

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.