CVE-2020-15900
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard...
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
- Record
CVE-2020-15900- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.5 High
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-191, CWE-787
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
- Record
CVE-2020-15900- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-7873 No score
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
- Record
EUVD-2020-7873- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-mwgq-j58h-pv6j
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard...
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
- Record
GHSA-mwgq-j58h-pv6j- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-119, CWE-787
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVALPINE-CVE-2020-15900
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
- Record
ALPINE-CVE-2020-15900- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBELL-CVE-2020-15900
CVE-2020-15900 does not affect BellSoft software
- Record
BELL-CVE-2020-15900- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Show 9 moreShow less
OSV
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
- Record
CVE-2020-15900- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2020-15900
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2020-15900- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2020-15900
A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2020-15900- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2020:1142-1 No score
Security update for ghostscript
This update for ghostscript fixes the following issues:
- fixed CVE-2020-15900 Memory Corruption (SAFER Sandbox Breakout) cf. https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=702582 (bsc#1174415)
This update was imported from the SUSE:SLE-15:Update update project.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2020:1142-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2020:1146-1 No score
Security update for ghostscript
This update for ghostscript fixes the following issues:
- fixed CVE-2020-15900 Memory Corruption (SAFER Sandbox Breakout) cf. https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=702582 (bsc#1174415)
This update was imported from the SUSE:SLE-15:Update update project.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2020:1146-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:10783-1 No score
ghostscript-9.54.0-2.2 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the ghostscript-9.54.0-2.2 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:10783-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2020:2095-1 No score
Security update for ghostscript
This update for ghostscript fixes the following issues:
- fixed CVE-2020-15900 Memory Corruption (SAFER Sandbox Breakout) cf. https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=702582 (bsc#1174415)
- Record
SUSE-SU-2020:2095-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2020:2097-1 No score
Security update for ghostscript
This update for ghostscript fixes the following issues:
- fixed CVE-2020-15900 Memory Corruption (SAFER Sandbox Breakout) cf. https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=702582 (bsc#1174415)
- Record
SUSE-SU-2020:2097-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUSN-4445-1 No score
ghostscript vulnerability
It was discovered that Ghostscript incorrectly handled certain PostScript files. If a user or automated system were tricked into processing a specially crafted file, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to access arbitrary files, execute arbitrary code,
- Record
USN-4445-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
ghostscriptAlpine:v3.11 |
before 9.50-r1 | 9.50-r1 |
ghostscriptAlpine:v3.12 |
before 9.52-r1 | 9.52-r1 |
ghostscriptDebian:12 |
before 9.52.1~dfsg-1 | 9.52.1~dfsg-1 |
ghostscriptDebian:13 |
before 9.52.1~dfsg-1 | 9.52.1~dfsg-1 |
ghostscriptDebian:14 |
before 9.52.1~dfsg-1 | 9.52.1~dfsg-1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 |
before 9.52-3.32.1 | 9.52-3.32.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP2 |
before 9.52-3.32.1 | 9.52-3.32.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-ESPOS |
before 9.52-3.32.1 | 9.52-3.32.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-LTSS |
before 9.52-3.32.1 | 9.52-3.32.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15-LTSS |
before 9.52-3.32.1 | 9.52-3.32.1 |
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| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 |
before 9.52-3.32.1 | 9.52-3.32.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:HPE Helion OpenStack 8 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:OpenStack Cloud 7 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:OpenStack Cloud 8 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:OpenStack Cloud 9 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP2 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-LTSS |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-BCL |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-LTSS |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-BCL |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptSUSE:Enterprise Storage 5 |
before 9.52-23.39.1 | 9.52-23.39.1 |
ghostscriptUbuntu:20.04:LTS |
before 9.50~dfsg-5ubuntu4.1, plus listed versions 9.27~dfsg+0-0ubuntu39.27~dfsg+0-0ubuntu49.50~dfsg-5ubuntu19.50~dfsg-5ubuntu29.50~dfsg-5ubuntu39.50~dfsg-5ubuntu4 |
9.50~dfsg-5ubuntu4.1 |
ghostscriptopenSUSE:Leap 15.1 |
before 9.52-lp151.3.15.1 | 9.52-lp151.3.15.1 |
ghostscript-miniopenSUSE:Leap 15.1 |
before 9.52-lp151.3.15.1 | 9.52-lp151.3.15.1 |
ghostscriptopenSUSE:Leap 15.2 |
before 9.52-lp152.2.4.1 | 9.52-lp152.2.4.1 |
ghostscript-miniopenSUSE:Leap 15.2 |
before 9.52-lp152.2.4.1 | 9.52-lp152.2.4.1 |
ghostscriptopenSUSE:Tumbleweed From an advisory covering 44 CVEs |
before 9.54.0-2.2 | 9.54.0-2.2 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-15900 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) in Artifex Ghostscript, published July 28, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 5.19%, the 92nd percentile. Fixed in ghostscript 9.50-r1.
References
git.ghostscript.com?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=log
github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl/commits/master/psi/zstring.c
artifex.com/security-advisories/CVE-2020-15900
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-08/msg00004.html
Show 62 moreShow less
usn.ubuntu.com/4445-1
security.gentoo.org/glsa/202008-20
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-15900
security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-15900
docs.bell-sw.com/security/cves/CVE-2020-15900
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-15900
suse.com/support/update/announcement/2020/suse-su-20202095-1
bugzilla.suse.com/1174415
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-15900
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-15900