CVE-2023-4042 | Ghostscript: incomplete fix for cve-2020-16305

A flaw was found in ghostscript. The fix for CVE-2020-16305 in ghostscript was not included in RHSA-2021:1852-06 advisory as it was claimed to be. This issue only affects the ghostscript package as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.

Published: 2023-08-23 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-4042 is rated Low Risk (24.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). 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-2023-4042

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 2025-11-21 0.08% 0.03% -0.05%
2 2025-11-18 0.02% 0.08% +0.06%
3 2025-04-15 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-4042

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-4042

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-4042

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-4042: 1 source package rows (ghostscript); 65 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 65. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-4042
debian unimportant CVE-2023-4042 unimportant 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-2023-4042
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-4042
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-4042 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ghostscript), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-4042

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-4042

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
artifex ghostscript < 9.51 cpe:2.3:a:artifex:ghostscript:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder 8.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_arm64 8.0_aarch64 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_arm64:8.0_aarch64:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_ibm_z_systems 8.0_s390x cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_ibm_z_systems:8.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_power_little_endian 8.0_ppc64le cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_power_little_endian:8.0_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_arm_64 8.0_aarch64 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_arm_64:8.0_aarch64:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems 8.0_s390x cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:8.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian 8.0_ppc64le cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:8.0_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-4042

cvelogic Threat Intelligence