CVE-2017-9612 [High] | Use-After-Free in Ghostscript Ghostxps

CVE-2017-9612 is rated High Exploit Risk (76.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.46%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.17% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

EDB-ID	Source	Kind	Published	Link
—	nvd_ref	exploit_tag		Exploit-DB ↗

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#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	1.29%	2.46%	+1.17%
2	2026-04-13	0.30%	1.29%	+0.99%
3	2026-03-27	—	0.30%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

1.29%

2.46%

+1.17%

2026-04-13

0.30%

1.29%

+0.99%

2026-03-27

—

0.30%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.8	3.0	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	5.9	[email protected]
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]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.8

3.0

HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

5.9

[email protected]

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]

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-9612

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2017-9612 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-2017-9612
`gentoo`	normal	CVE-2017-9612: 1 GLSA(s) (201811-12), 1 atom(s) (app-text/ghostscript-gpl); latest impact normal.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2017-9612
`redhat`	low	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-9612
`suse`	medium	CVE-2017-9612 severity moderate: SUSE including 18 source package names (ghostscript-9.15-23.7.1, ghostscript-9.25-23.13.1, …), 59 product×package rows across 21 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP3, … (21 product lines)): Fixed 59.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-9612/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2017-9612 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ghostscript), 4 status rows across 4 suites (trusty, upstream, xenial, zesty): released 3, needed 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-9612

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-9612

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
artifex	ghostscript_ghostxps	9.21	cpe:2.3:a:artifex:ghostscript_ghostxps:9.21:::::::*
debian	debian_linux	8.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:::::::*
debian	debian_linux	9.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:::::::*

References for CVE-2017-9612

URL	Tags
http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=98f6da60b9d463c617e631fc254cf6d66f2e8e3c
http://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3986	Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/99979	Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=698026	Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-12	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2017-9612

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2017-9612

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-9612

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-9612

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-9612

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-9612

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-9612

References for CVE-2017-9612