VulnerabilityPublished 3 Jul 2024Updated 2 Aug 2024

CVE-2024-29511: Artifex Ghostscript · Active Debug Code

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High · fixed in 10.03.1 : patch affected systems soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 11:42 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 66% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 10.03.1

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
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: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 3 Jul 2024
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

1. 2. If you cannot patch yet, disable or restrict the use of Tesseract OCR integration within Ghostscript if feasible, especially in environments processing untrusted inputs. 3. Implement strict input validation and sanitization on parameters related to OCRLanguage, debug_file, and user_patterns_file to prevent directory traversal attempts. 4. Employ application-layer firewalls or intrusion detection systems to monitor and block suspicious requests targeting OCR parameters. 5. Restrict file system permissions for the Ghostscript process to limit access to sensitive files and directories, minimizing the impact of potential exploitation. 6. Conduct regular security audits and scanning to detect vulnerable Ghostscript versions and anomalous file access patterns. 7. Educate developers and system administrators about the risks of directory traversal in OCR workflows and encourage secure coding practices.

Description

Artifex Ghostscript before 10.03.1, when Tesseract is used for OCR, has a directory traversal issue that allows arbitrary file reading (and writing of error messages to arbitrary files) via OCRLanguage. For example, exploitation can use debug_file /tmp/out and user_patterns_file /etc/passwd.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2024-29511 is unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information due to arbitrary file read capabilities. Attackers can access critical system files, configuration data, or application secrets, potentially leading to further compromise or data leakage. The ability to write error messages to arbitrary files, while limited, could be leveraged for partial file manipulation or to disrupt system operations. Since exploitation requires no authentication or user interaction and can be performed remotely, the vulnerability poses a significant risk to organizations running vulnerable Ghostscript versions with Tesseract OCR enabled. This risk is amplified in environments processing untrusted documents or exposed to external networks. Confidentiality breaches could affect compliance with data protection regulations and damage organizational reputation. However, the vulnerability does not directly impact system integrity or availability, limiting its scope to information disclosure.

CWE-489Active Debug Code (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A02:2025: Security Misconfiguration (opens in a new tab)
The product is released with debugging code still enabled or active.
Build and Compilation · Distribution
Remove debug code before deploying the application.
Attack patterns
Exploit Non-Production Interfaces (opens in a new tab)
Root/Jailbreak Detection Evasion via Debugging (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Feb 2026, 16:57 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-489

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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