CVE-2025-59801VulnerabilityPublished 22 Sep 2025Updated 23 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-59801: Artifex GhostXPS · Stack-based Buffer Overflow

Affects Artifex GhostXPSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.3 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 9% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on 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 22 Sep 2025
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 2026-10-25.

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 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Artifex GhostXPS	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-59801 effectively, European organizations should: 1) Monitor Artifex's official channels for patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly once available. 2) Implement strict access controls to limit local access to systems running GhostXPS, reducing the attack surface. 3) Employ application whitelisting and sandboxing techniques to isolate GhostXPS processes, preventing exploitation from affecting other system components. 4) Conduct regular code audits and fuzz testing on image processing components to detect similar vulnerabilities proactively. 5) Use network segmentation to separate document processing systems from critical infrastructure, minimizing lateral movement risks. 6) Educate internal users about the risks of opening or processing untrusted XPS or TIFF files, even locally. 7) Deploy endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions capable of identifying anomalous behavior related to buffer overflow exploitation attempts. 8) Review and harden system configurations and privilege assignments to ensure minimal necessary permissions for GhostXPS operation. These targeted measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on the specific attack vector (local access and image processing) and the operational context of GhostXPS.

Description

In Artifex GhostXPS before 10.06.0, there is a stack-based buffer overflow in xps_unpredict_tiff in xpstiff.c because the samplesperpixel value is not checked.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-59801 depends largely on the deployment of Artifex GhostXPS within their environments. GhostXPS is used for processing XPS and TIFF documents, often in printing, document management, or imaging workflows. Organizations in sectors such as publishing, printing, government, and legal services that handle large volumes of such documents may be at risk. The vulnerability requires local access, which limits remote exploitation but raises concerns for insider threats or compromised internal systems. Successful exploitation could lead to integrity breaches, such as unauthorized modification of documents or processing results, potentially undermining document authenticity and trustworthiness. This could have regulatory implications under GDPR if document integrity is critical to compliance. Additionally, if attackers leverage this vulnerability as part of a multi-stage attack, it could facilitate lateral movement or privilege escalation within networks. The medium CVSS score reflects moderate risk, but the changed scope and integrity impact suggest that affected systems could be manipulated beyond the immediate vulnerable component, increasing potential damage in complex environments.

CWE-121Stack-based Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #14
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).
Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Implementation
Implement and perform bounds checking on input.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 30 Sep 2025, 01:44 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-121

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats