CVE-2015-3228

Integer overflow in the gs_heap_alloc_bytes function in base/gsmalloc.c in Ghostscript 9.15 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted Postscript (ps) file, as demonstrated by using the ps2pdf command, which triggers an out-of-bounds read or write.

Published: 2015-08-11 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2015-3228 is rated Moderate Risk (60.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.75%). EPSS rose +2.77% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2015-3228

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 0.98% 3.75% +2.77%
2 2025-07-13 0.88% 0.98% +0.10%
3 2025-06-08 — 0.88% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2015-3228

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2015-3228

OS Trackers for CVE-2015-3228

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2015-3228 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (ghostscript), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-3228
gentoo normal CVE-2015-3228: 1 GLSA(s) (201612-33), 1 atom(s) (app-text/ghostscript-gpl); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2015-3228
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-3228
suse medium CVE-2015-3228 severity moderate: SUSE including 55 source package names (ghostscript-10.05.0-160000.2.2, ghostscript-9.15-22.1, …), 149 product×package rows across 47 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1, … (47 product lines)): Fixed 149. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-3228/
ubuntu medium CVE-2015-3228 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ghostscript), 4 status rows across 4 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, vivid): released 3, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-3228

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2015-3228

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
artifex afpl_ghostscript <= 9.15 cpe:2.3:a:artifex:afpl_ghostscript:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2015-3228

cvelogic Threat Intelligence