CVE-2025-7462 is a medium-severity vulnerability identified in Artifex GhostPDL, a widely used interpreter for page description languages such as PostScript and PDF. The flaw exists in the function pdf_ferror within the file devices/vector/gdevpdf.c, specifically in the component responsible for handling new output file open errors. The vulnerability is a NULL pointer dereference, which occurs when the program attempts to access or manipulate memory through a pointer that has not been properly initialized or has been set to NULL. This can lead to a crash of the GhostPDL process, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability can be triggered remotely without requiring any privileges or authentication, although it does require user interaction, such as processing a crafted PDF or PostScript file. The CVSS 4.0 vector indicates network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), user interaction required (UI:P), no impact on confidentiality or integrity, but low impact on availability (VA:L). The vulnerability affects versions of GhostPDL up to commit 3989415a5b8e99b9d1b87cc9902bde9b7cdea145. A patch identified by commit 619a106ba4c4abed95110f84d5efcd7aee38c7cb has been released to address this issue. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time. The vulnerability primarily results in application crashes rather than remote code execution or data leakage, limiting its impact to service disruption.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-7462 depends largely on the extent to which GhostPDL is integrated into their document processing workflows, print servers, or embedded systems that handle PostScript or PDF rendering. Organizations in sectors such as publishing, printing, document management, and software development that rely on GhostPDL could experience denial of service conditions if maliciously crafted files are processed. This could disrupt business operations, delay document processing, or impact availability of printing services. While the vulnerability does not allow for data theft or code execution, the ability to remotely cause application crashes without authentication poses a risk to service continuity. In environments with automated document ingestion or public-facing services that process untrusted files, the risk is higher. European organizations with strict uptime requirements or regulatory mandates around service availability should consider this vulnerability significant enough to warrant prompt patching. However, the lack of known exploits and the medium severity rating suggest the threat is moderate rather than critical.

To mitigate CVE-2025-7462, European organizations should promptly apply the official patch released by Artifex, identified by commit 619a106ba4c4abed95110f84d5efcd7aee38c7cb, to all affected GhostPDL instances. Organizations should audit their environments to identify all systems using GhostPDL, including embedded devices and third-party software that may bundle it. Implement input validation and filtering to block or quarantine suspicious PostScript or PDF files from untrusted sources before processing. Employ sandboxing or containerization techniques to isolate GhostPDL processes, limiting the impact of potential crashes. Monitor logs and system behavior for unexpected crashes or service interruptions that could indicate exploitation attempts. Where feasible, restrict network exposure of services that process GhostPDL files and enforce strict access controls. Additionally, maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from denial of service events. Regularly review vendor advisories for updates or new patches related to GhostPDL vulnerabilities.