CVE-2022-38171

Xpdf prior to version 4.04 contains an integer overflow in the JBIG2 decoder (JBIG2Stream::readTextRegionSeg() in JBIG2Stream.cc). Processing a specially crafted PDF file or JBIG2 image could lead to a crash or the execution of arbitrary code. This is similar to the vulnerability described by CVE-2021-30860 (Apple CoreGraphics).

Published: 2022-08-22 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-38171 is rated Low Risk (38.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.08%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2022-38171

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 2025-03-30 0.16% 0.08% -0.09%
2 2025-03-29 0.08% 0.16% +0.09%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.08% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-38171

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-38171

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-38171

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2022-38171: 1 source package rows (xpdf); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 5, open 2. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-38171
gentoo normal CVE-2022-38171: 1 GLSA(s) (202405-18), 1 atom(s) (app-text/xpdf); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-38171
suse high CVE-2022-38171 severity important: SUSE including 18 source package names (libpoppler-cpp0, libpoppler-cpp0-32bit, …), 211 product×package rows across 34 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP5, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS, … (34 product lines)): Known Not Affected 199, Will Not Fix 12. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-38171/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-38171 medium priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (ipe, texlive-bin, xpdf), 39 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 17, ignored 13, not-affected 6, DNE 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-38171

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-38171

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xpdfreader xpdf 4.04 cpe:2.3:a:xpdfreader:xpdf:4.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
freedesktop poppler < 22.09.0 cpe:2.3:a:freedesktop:poppler:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-38171

cvelogic Threat Intelligence