CVE-2020-15900

Name: CVE-2020-15900
Creator: NVD / NIST
Published: 2020-07-28T16:15:12.84+00:00
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

CRITICALCVSS 9.8/10EPSS 5.19%

Last modified Jun 17, 2026

CVE-2020-15900 is a critical-severity vulnerability rated 9.8/10 on the CVSS scale. 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. EPSS estimates a 5.19% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

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.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1

9.8/10

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Probability

5.19%

91.4th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

Vendor	Product	Versions
Artifex	Ghostscript	9.50
Artifex	Ghostscript	9.52
Canonical	Ubuntu Linux	20.04
Opensuse	Leap	15.1
Opensuse	Leap	15.2

References

http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=log
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-08/msg00004.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-08/msg00006.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
https://artifex.com/security-advisories/CVE-2020-15900Vendor Advisory
https://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b
https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl/commit/5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31bPatch, Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl/commits/master/psi/zstring.cPatch, Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202008-20Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4445-1/Third Party Advisory
http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=log
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-08/msg00004.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-08/msg00006.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
https://artifex.com/security-advisories/CVE-2020-15900Vendor Advisory
https://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b
https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl/commit/5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31bPatch, Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl/commits/master/psi/zstring.cPatch, Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202008-20Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4445-1/Third Party Advisory

Timeline

Published: Jul 28, 2020
Last Modified: Jun 17, 2026
Status: Modified

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-15900?

How severe is CVE-2020-15900?

CVE-2020-15900 has a CVSS score of 9.8/10 (CRITICAL severity). The EPSS model estimates a 5.19% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix CVE-2020-15900?

Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

Are you affected by CVE-2020-15900?

Run a free Strix scan to check your systems for this vulnerability.

Scan your code now

Source: NVD / NIST