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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2024-46952: ghostpdl · Classic Buffer Overflow

Affects ghostpdlSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.4 High : upgrade to 10.04.0 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
8.4High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 24% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 10.04.0
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 10 Nov 2024

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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.

What to do

Upgrade artifexsoftware/ghostpdl to 10.04.0.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
GitHubartifexsoftware/ghostpdlpkg:github/artifexsoftware/ghostpdlOther threatsAffected
  • <10.04.0
Fixed in
  • 10.04.0

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

If you cannot patch yet, organizations should implement strict access controls to limit which users and systems can invoke Ghostscript, especially on internet-facing services. Employ sandboxing or containerization to isolate Ghostscript processes and minimize potential damage from exploitation. Monitor logs and network traffic for anomalous PDF processing activities or crashes indicative of exploitation attempts. Disable or restrict automatic processing of untrusted PDF files where possible. Use application-layer firewalls or intrusion prevention systems with signatures targeting malformed PDF files exploiting XRef streams. Keep all related software and dependencies up to date and subscribe to vendor advisories for timely patch deployment. Conduct internal audits to identify all instances of Ghostscript usage and prioritize remediation efforts accordingly. Consider deploying runtime application self-protection (RASP) tools to detect and block buffer overflow attempts in real time.

Description

An issue was discovered in pdf/pdf_xref.c in Artifex Ghostscript before 10.04.0. There is a buffer overflow during handling of a PDF XRef stream (related to W array values).

References

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