CVE-2018-16513

In Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24, attackers able to supply crafted PostScript files could use a type confusion in the setcolor function to crash the interpreter or possibly have unspecified other impact.

Published: 2018-09-05 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-16513 is rated Moderate Risk (57.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.50%). EPSS rose +1.19% 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-2018-16513

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 0.32% 1.50% +1.19%
2 2025-03-30 0.58% 0.32% -0.26%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.58% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-16513

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-2018-16513

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-16513

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2018-16513: 1 source package rows (ghostscript); 15 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 15. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-16513
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-16513 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-2018-16513
gentoo normal CVE-2018-16513: 1 GLSA(s) (201811-12), 1 atom(s) (app-text/ghostscript-gpl); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-16513
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16513
suse medium CVE-2018-16513 severity moderate: SUSE including 41 source package names (ghostscript-10.05.0-160000.2.2, ghostscript-9.25-23.13.1, …), 159 product×package rows across 58 product lines (SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP3, … (58 product lines)): Fixed 159. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16513/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-16513 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-2018-16513

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-16513

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
artifex ghostscript < 9.24 cpe:2.3:a:artifex:ghostscript:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
artifex gpl_ghostscript < 9.26 cpe:2.3:a:artifex:gpl_ghostscript:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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-2018-16513

cvelogic Threat Intelligence