CVE-2025-27831
📋 TL;DR
A buffer overflow vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript's DOCXWRITE/TXTWRITE device allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service by processing specially crafted documents. This affects all systems running vulnerable Ghostscript versions that process untrusted documents. The high CVSS score indicates critical severity with network-accessible attack vectors.
💻 Affected Systems
- Artifex Ghostscript
📦 What is this software?
Ghostscript by Artifex
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution with SYSTEM/root privileges leading to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, ransomware deployment, or persistent backdoor installation.
Likely Case
Denial of service through application crashes, with potential for limited code execution depending on exploit sophistication and system protections.
If Mitigated
Application crash without code execution if modern exploit mitigations (ASLR, DEP) are effective, but service disruption still occurs.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires sending malicious documents to vulnerable systems. No public exploit code identified yet, but buffer overflow in common code path suggests weaponization is likely.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 10.05.0
Vendor Advisory: https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=708132
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download Ghostscript 10.05.0 or later from artifex.com. 2. Stop all Ghostscript services. 3. Install the updated version. 4. Restart services and applications using Ghostscript.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable devices
allRemove or disable DOCXWRITE and TXTWRITE devices if not required
Modify Ghostscript configuration to exclude -sDEVICE=docxwrite and -sDEVICE=txtwrite
Sandbox document processing
linuxRun Ghostscript in isolated containers with minimal privileges
docker run --read-only --cap-drop=ALL -v /tmp:/tmp:ro ghostscript-container
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation for all document processing workflows
- Deploy network segmentation to isolate Ghostscript servers from critical assets
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Run 'gs --version' and check if version is below 10.05.0Check Version:
gs --versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 10.05.0 or higher with 'gs --version' and test document processing📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Ghostscript crash logs
- Abnormal document processing errors
- Memory access violation messages
Network Indicators:
- Unusual document uploads to processing services
- Traffic spikes to Ghostscript ports
SIEM Query:
source="ghostscript.log" AND (error OR crash OR segmentation)