CVE-2025-59800
📋 TL;DR
This CVE describes an integer overflow vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript's PDF OCR device that leads to heap-based buffer overflow when processing certain PDF files. Attackers could potentially execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service by crafting malicious PDF documents. Systems using Ghostscript for PDF processing, conversion, or OCR functionality are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Artifex Ghostscript
📦 What is this software?
Ghostscript by Artifex
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution leading to complete system compromise if exploited successfully with crafted PDF input
Likely Case
Application crash or denial of service when processing malformed PDF files
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper sandboxing and input validation in place
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires crafting specific PDF files that trigger the OCR functionality with malicious parameters
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 10.05.2 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=708602
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Download latest Ghostscript from official repository 2. Compile and install updated version 3. Replace existing Ghostscript binaries 4. Verify installation with version check
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable PDF OCR device
allRemove or disable the vulnerable OCR device from Ghostscript configuration
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -o output.pdf input.pdf (avoid using pdfocr device)
Input validation and sanitization
allImplement strict PDF file validation before processing with Ghostscript
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls to limit PDF processing to trusted sources only
- Deploy Ghostscript in sandboxed/containerized environments with minimal privileges
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Ghostscript version: gs --version and compare to affected range (≤10.05.1)Check Version:
gs --versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 10.05.2 or later: gs --version | grep -q '10.05.[2-9]\|10.0[6-9]\|[1-9][0-9]'📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Ghostscript crash logs
- Segmentation fault errors in system logs
- Abnormal PDF processing failures
Network Indicators:
- Unusual PDF file uploads to processing services
- Multiple failed PDF processing attempts
SIEM Query:
source="*ghostscript*" AND ("segmentation fault" OR "buffer overflow" OR "ocr_begin_page")