CVE-2025-48708 – This vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript allow... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2025-48708?

CVE-2025-48708 has a CVSS score of 4.0 (MEDIUM). This vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript allows PDF passwords to be exposed in cleartext when processing certain PDF documents. It affects systems using vulnerable Ghostscript versions to process PDF files, potentially exposing sensitive authentication credentials.

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript allows PDF passwords to be exposed in cleartext when processing certain PDF documents. It affects systems using vulnerable Ghostscript versions to process PDF files, potentially exposing sensitive authentication credentials.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Artifex Ghostscript

Versions: All versions before 10.05.1

Operating Systems: All platforms running Ghostscript

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Only affects systems processing PDF documents with passwords using the vulnerable function.

📦 What is this software?

Ghostscript by Artifex

View all CVEs affecting Ghostscript →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Sensitive PDF passwords are exposed in system memory or logs, potentially allowing unauthorized access to protected PDF content.

🟠

Likely Case

PDF passwords become visible in debugging output, logs, or memory dumps during PDF processing operations.

🟢

If Mitigated

Password exposure is limited to trusted environments with proper access controls and logging restrictions.

🌐 Internet-Facing: LOW

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: NO

Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No

Complexity: LOW

Exploitation requires processing a specially crafted PDF document through Ghostscript.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 10.05.1

Vendor Advisory: https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=708446

Restart Required: No

Instructions:

1. Download Ghostscript 10.05.1 or later from official sources. 2. Replace existing Ghostscript installation with patched version. 3. Verify installation with 'gs --version'.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Restrict PDF processing

all

Limit Ghostscript usage to trusted PDF sources only

Disable debug logging

all

Prevent password exposure in system logs

gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=nullpage -dQUIET

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Isolate Ghostscript processing to secure, non-internet-facing systems
Implement strict access controls on PDF processing directories and logs

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Ghostscript version with 'gs --version' and compare to 10.05.1

Check Version:

gs --version

Verify Fix Applied:

Confirm version is 10.05.1 or later with 'gs --version'

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Cleartext password strings in Ghostscript logs
Unexpected PDF processing errors

Network Indicators:

Unusual PDF uploads to processing services

SIEM Query:

source="ghostscript" AND "password" AND NOT "redacted"

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2025-48708

CVSS v3 Score: 4.0 (MEDIUM)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

CWE: CWE-212

EPSS Score: 0.01% exploit probability (0.6th percentile)

Published: May 23, 2025

Last Updated: June 20, 2025

🔗 References

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