MediumCVE-2026-103226

    Artifex Ghostscript Pdfwrite gdevpsfx.c type1_callsubr stack-based overflow (CVE-2026-103226)

    Published Last modified Sources: Ubuntu, Red Hat, Debian, BSI, CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    A flaw was found in ghostscript. This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to trigger an application crash leading to a Denial of Service (DoS) or potentially execute arbitrary code by tricking a user or service into processing a specially crafted file.

    The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below.

    Affected
    • Artifex Ghostscript eq 10.07..10.07

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    6.3

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    6.3

    CVSS v3

    Severity Medium on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: Ubuntu, Red Hat, Debian, BSI, CVE.org

    0.5 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 43.3

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Medium
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    76.33 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    6.3 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    6.3
    CVSS v4

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    5.3
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.5 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    43.3
    High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-121, CWE-119

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    A flaw was found in ghostscript. This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to trigger an application crash leading to a Denial of Service (DoS) or potentially execute arbitrary code by tricking a user or service into processing a specially crafted file. The issue stems from a stack-based buffer overflow in the pdfwrite component during Type 1 font processing.

    Source: Ubuntu Security Notices, redhat_csaf, Debian Security Advisories, BSI WID Portal, cvelistv5, BSI CSAF, NVD (NIST)

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
    ArtifexGhostscript
    • 10.07
    • —
    Open SourceGhostscript
    • ≤ 10.08.0
    • —

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    FamilyVendorProductVersion
    Linuxdebianghostscripttrixie
    Linuxubuntughostscriptbionic
    Linuxubuntughostscriptfocal
    Linuxubuntughostscriptjammy
    Linuxubuntughostscriptnoble
    Linuxubuntughostscriptresolute
    Linuxubuntughostscriptstonking
    Linuxubuntughostscriptxenial

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-121Stack-based Buffer Overflow

      Variant

      A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).

      Entry at MITRE CWE-121

    • CWE-119Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

      Class

      The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. This may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-119

    References & sources

    • vuldb.comVDB-411906 | Artifex Ghostscript Pdfwrite gdevpsfx.c type1_callsubr stack-based overflowVulnerability database, Technical description
    • vuldb.comVDB-411906 | CTI Indicators (IOB, IOC, IOA)signature, Permissions required
    • vuldb.comCVE-2026-103226 | CVE Analysis and ReportThird-party advisory
    • vuldb.comSubmit #955016 | Artifex Software Ghostscript (GhostPDL) 8.00 (2002) up to 10.09.0 / master (2026-08-21) Stack-based Buffer OverflowThird-party advisory
    • bugs.ghostscript.comshow_bug.cgi?id=709672Issue tracking
    • bugs.ghostscript.comshow_bug.cgi?id=709672Issue tracking
    • bugs.ghostscript.comattachment.cgi?id=28495Exploit
    • artifex.comProduct
    • ghostscript.comreleases/gsdnld.htmlPatch

    Reanalysis & status changes

    Chronological NVD audit events for this CVE — reanalyses, CVSS updates, CPE diffs.

    1. CVE Modifiedcna@vuldb.com

      • Description: before A vulnerability was identified in Artifex Ghostscript up to 10.09.0. Affected is the function type1_callsubr of the file devices/vector/gdevpsfx.c of the component Pdfwrite. The manipulation leads to stack-based buffer overflow. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. The exploit is publicly available and might be used. It is suggested to install a patch to address this issue. A solution was implemented: "I've chosen to fix this slightly differently by using the defined macro in the font parsing loop rather than in the callsubr function, because this better matches the pattern of 'normal' usage." after A vulnerability was identified in Artifex Ghostscript up to 10.07.0. Affected is the function type1_callsubr of the file devices/vector/gdevpsfx.c of the component Pdfwrite. The manipulation leads to stack-based buffer overflow. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. The exploit is publicly available and might be used. Upgrading to version 10.08.0 is able to address this issue. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component. A solution was implemented: "I've chosen to fix this slightly differently by using the defined macro in the font parsing loop rather than in the callsubr function, because this better matches the pattern of 'normal' usage."
      • Affected: after Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/103xxx/CVE-2026-103226.json">CVE-2026-103226</a>
      • Reference: after https://ghostscript.com/releases/gsdnld.html

    2. New CVE Receivedcna@vuldb.com

      • Description: after A vulnerability was identified in Artifex Ghostscript up to 10.09.0. Affected is the function type1_callsubr of the file devices/vector/gdevpsfx.c of the component Pdfwrite. The manipulation leads to stack-based buffer overflow. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. The exploit is publicly available and might be used. It is suggested to install a patch to address this issue. A solution was implemented: "I've chosen to fix this slightly differently by using the defined macro in the font parsing loop rather than in the callsubr function, because this better matches the pattern of 'normal' usage."
      • CVSS V4.0: after AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
      • CVSS V3.1: after AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
      • CVSS V2: after (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P)

    3. CVE Modified134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

      • SSVC: after {"id":"CVE-2026-103226","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technical…
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