VulnerabilityPublished 1 Aug 2023Updated 20 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-38560: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · Integer Overflow or Wraparound

Affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 25% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 1 Aug 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2023-38560, organizations should prioritize applying any available patches or updates from Red Hat that address this vulnerability in Ghostscript. If patches are not immediately available, consider disabling or restricting the use of PCL to PDF conversion functionalities in Ghostscript where feasible. Limit local access to systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 to trusted users only, and enforce strict user privilege management to reduce the risk of exploitation. Implement monitoring and alerting for abnormal Ghostscript process crashes or unusual printing service disruptions to detect potential exploitation attempts early. Additionally, consider migrating legacy systems to supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions or alternative platforms with maintained security updates. Conduct regular security audits and user training to minimize risks associated with local user interaction requirements.

Description

An integer overflow flaw was found in pcl/pl/plfont.c:418 in pl_glyph_name in ghostscript. This issue may allow a local attacker to cause a denial of service via transforming a crafted PCL file to PDF format.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2023-38560 is the potential disruption of printing and document conversion workflows that rely on Ghostscript within Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 environments. This can lead to denial of service conditions affecting operational continuity, especially in sectors such as government, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing where document processing is critical. Although the vulnerability does not compromise confidentiality or integrity, the availability impact can cause delays, reduce productivity, and potentially interrupt business-critical processes. Organizations using legacy systems or those that have not migrated from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 are particularly vulnerable. The requirement for local access and user interaction limits remote exploitation but insider threats or compromised endpoints could leverage this flaw. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially as attackers may develop exploits in the future.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 20 Nov 2025, 19:04 UTC

Technical details

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