CVE-2025-7462VulnerabilityPublished 12 Jul 2025Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-7462: Artifex GhostPDL · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects Artifex GhostPDLSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

5.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 39% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Passive
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, 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: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Passive: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires limited interaction by the targeted user with the vulnerable system and the attacker’s payload. These interactions would be considered involuntary and do not require that the user actively subvert protections built into the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Jul 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 2026-10-26.

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

AI-suggested

Organizations should promptly apply the patch identified by commit 619a106ba4c4abed95110f84d5efcd7aee38c7cb to all affected GhostPDL instances. Beyond patching, it is advisable to implement strict input validation and filtering on documents processed by GhostPDL to reduce exposure to crafted malicious files. Deploy application whitelisting and sandboxing techniques for document processing applications to contain potential crashes and prevent cascading failures. Monitor logs and system behavior for signs of unexpected GhostPDL crashes or service interruptions that may indicate exploitation attempts. Educate users to avoid opening untrusted or suspicious PostScript or PDF files, especially from unknown sources. For environments with high document throughput, consider redundancy and failover mechanisms for printing and document rendering services to minimize downtime. Regularly update and audit all components in the document processing chain to ensure no other dependencies are vulnerable.

Description

A vulnerability was found in Artifex GhostPDL up to 3989415a5b8e99b9d1b87cc9902bde9b7cdea145. It has been classified as problematic. This affects the function pdf_ferror of the file devices/vector/gdevpdf.c of the component New Output File Open Error Handler. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. The identifier of the patch is 619a106ba4c4abed95110f84d5efcd7aee38c7cb. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2025-7462 is the potential for denial of service in systems relying on GhostPDL for document rendering or printing workflows. This could disrupt business operations, especially in sectors with high document processing demands such as publishing, legal, finance, and government services. While the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, availability interruptions could lead to operational delays and increased support costs. Organizations using automated document processing pipelines or print servers that incorporate GhostPDL are at risk of service outages if exploited. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate threat but does not eliminate the risk, particularly in environments where user interaction with untrusted documents is common. The medium severity rating suggests moderate urgency for patching, but organizations with critical printing or document services should prioritize remediation to maintain service continuity.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Nov 2025, 18:17 UTC

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats