CVE-2002-0838

Exp

Buffer overflow in (1) gv 3.5.8 and earlier, (2) gvv 1.0.2 and earlier, (3) ggv 1.99.90 and earlier, (4) gnome-gv, and (5) kghostview in kdegraphics 2.2.2 and earlier, allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malformed (a) PDF or (b) PostScript file, which is processed by an unsafe call to sscanf.

Published: 2002-10-10 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2002-0838 is rated Exploit Available (58.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.02%). Core evidence: 3 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2002-0838

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
21872 exploit_db edb 2002-09-26 Exploit-DB ↗
21871 exploit_db edb 2002-09-26 Exploit-DB ↗
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2002-0838

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 4.43% 2.02% -2.41%
2 2025-03-30 3.01% 4.43% +1.42%
3 2025-03-29 3.01%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2002-0838

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2002-0838

OS Trackers for CVE-2002-0838

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2002-0838 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (gv), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2002-0838
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2002-0838

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2002-0838

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ggv ggv 1.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:ggv:ggv:1.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ghostview ghostview 1.3 cpe:2.3:a:ghostview:ghostview:1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ghostview ghostview 1.4 cpe:2.3:a:ghostview:ghostview:1.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ghostview ghostview 1.4.1 cpe:2.3:a:ghostview:ghostview:1.4.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ghostview ghostview 1.5 cpe:2.3:a:ghostview:ghostview:1.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 2.7.6 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:2.7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 2.7b1 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:2.7b1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 2.7b2 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:2.7b2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 2.7b3 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:2.7b3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 2.7b4 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:2.7b4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 2.7b5 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:2.7b5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 2.9.4 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:2.9.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.1.4 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.1.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.1.6 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.1.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.2.4 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.2.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.4.2 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.4.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.4.3 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.4.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.4.12 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.4.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.5.2 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.5.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.5.3 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.5.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gv gv 3.5.8 cpe:2.3:a:gv:gv:3.5.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2002-0838

URL Tags
ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/security/OpenLinux/CSSA-2002-053.0.txt
http://distro.conectiva.com.br/atualizacoes/?id=a&anuncio=000542
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=103305615613319&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=103305778615625&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=103487806800388&w=2
http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl?doc=fsalert/47780&zone_32=category:security
http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-176
http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-179
http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-182
http://www.iss.net/security_center/static/10201.php Vendor Advisory
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/600777 Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
http://www.kde.org/info/security/advisory-20021008-1.txt
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2002:069
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2002:071
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2002-207.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2002-212.html Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2002-220.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/5808 Exploit Patch Vendor Advisory
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