CVE-2018-15909

In Artifex Ghostscript 9.23 before 2018-08-24, a type confusion using the .shfill operator could be used by attackers able to supply crafted PostScript files to crash the interpreter or potentially execute code.

Published: 2018-08-27 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-15909 is rated Moderate Risk (62.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.02%). 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-2018-15909

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 2.09% 3.02% +0.93%
2 2026-05-30 2.27% 2.09% -0.19%
3 2025-11-21 — 2.27% —

Full EPSS history (21 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-15909

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-15909

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-15909

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2018-15909: 1 source package rows (ghostscript); 10 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-15909
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-15909 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-2018-15909
gentoo normal CVE-2018-15909: 1 GLSA(s) (201811-12), 1 atom(s) (app-text/ghostscript-gpl); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-15909
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-15909
suse medium CVE-2018-15909 severity moderate: SUSE including 43 source package names (ghostscript-10.05.0-160000.2.2, ghostscript-9.07-31.el7_6.1, …), 127 product×package rows across 54 product lines (SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, SUSE Liberty Linux 7, … (54 product lines)): Fixed 119, Known Not Affected 8. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-15909/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-15909 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ghostscript), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bionic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-15909

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-15909

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
artifex ghostscript <= 9.23 cpe:2.3:a:artifex:ghostscript:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
artifex gpl_ghostscript < 9.26 cpe:2.3:a:artifex:gpl_ghostscript:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_connect_secure >= 8.2r1.0, < 8.2r12.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_connect_secure:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_connect_secure >= 8.3r1, < 8.3r7.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_connect_secure:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_connect_secure >= 9.0r1, < 9.0r3.4 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_connect_secure:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-15909

URL Tags
http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=0b6cd1918e1ec4ffd087400a754a845180a4522b
http://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=e01e77a36cbb2e0277bc3a63852244bec41be0f6
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105178 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3650 Third Party Advisory
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44101 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00015.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-12 Third Party Advisory
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K24803507?utm_source=f5support&amp%3Butm_medium=RSS
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3768-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/332928 Patch Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
cvelogic Threat Intelligence