CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2016-7978

Use After Free

Published: May 23, 2017 | Modified: Apr 20, 2025
CVSS 3.x
9.8
CRITICAL
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
7.5 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
5.1 MODERATE
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V3
5.8 MODERATE
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
Ubuntu
MEDIUM
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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.

Weakness

The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory “belongs” to the code that operates on the new pointer.

Affected Software

NameVendorStart VersionEnd Version
GhostscriptArtifex9.20 (including)9.20 (including)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7RedHatghostscript-0:9.07-20.el7_3.1*
GhostscriptUbuntudevel*
GhostscriptUbuntuesm-infra/xenial*
GhostscriptUbuntuprecise*
GhostscriptUbuntutrusty*
GhostscriptUbuntuxenial*
GhostscriptUbuntuyakkety*

Potential Mitigations

References