Executive brief
Ghostscript, a widely used software for processing PDF and PostScript files, contains a security flaw that allows remote attackers to execute unauthorized commands. Even when the 'SAFER' security mode is enabled, malicious files can bypass these protections to run code on the underlying system. This could lead to a complete system takeover or the theft of sensitive data if a user processes a specially crafted document.
Technical details
A vulnerability exists in Ghostscript's -dSAFER mode, which is intended to prevent PostScript programs from performing dangerous operations like deleting files or executing system commands. By bypassing these restrictions, a remote attacker can achieve arbitrary command execution on the host system. The attack is typically delivered via a maliciously crafted PostScript or PDF file that is processed by the Ghostscript interpreter. This flaw is particularly critical for web services or mail gateways that use Ghostscript for document conversion or thumbnail generation. At the time of reporting, this represented a failure of the primary security sandbox mechanism in the software.
Affected products
- Artifex Software Ghostscript
Timeline
- 1995-08-31: disclosed