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NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2020-16306: A null pointer dereference vulnerability in devices/gdevtsep.c of Artifex Software GhostScript v9.50 allows a remote attacker to cause a den

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 23/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.7% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 78.1% of all records.
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. No account or password is required. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: ghostscript (Alpine:v3.13) 9.51-r0; ghostscript (Debian:10) 9.27~dfsg-2+deb10u4; ghostscript (Debian:12) 9.51~dfsg-1.
  • Mentioned 2 times in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Upgrade to ghostscript (Alpine:v3.13) 9.51-r0; ghostscript (Debian:10) 9.27~dfsg-2+deb10u4; ghostscript (Debian:12) 9.51~dfsg-1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

A null pointer dereference vulnerability in devices/gdevtsep.c of Artifex Software GhostScript v9.50 allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service via a crafted postscript file. This is fixed in v9.51.

MediumCVSS 5.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Aug 12, 2020
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
1.7% · 78th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

23

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
22 / 40 · 5.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 1.7%

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
artifexghostscript
debiandebian linux
canonicalubuntu linux

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • artifex ghostscript9.50
  • canonical ubuntu linux16.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux18.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux20.04
  • debian debian linux10.0
  • debian debian linux9.0

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.13ghostscriptbefore 9.51-r09.51-r0
Debian:10ghostscriptbefore 9.27~dfsg-2+deb10u49.27~dfsg-2+deb10u4
Debian:12ghostscriptbefore 9.51~dfsg-19.51~dfsg-1
Debian:9ghostscriptbefore 9.26a~dfsg-0+deb9u79.26a~dfsg-0+deb9u7

Same product

artifex: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2017-8291Artifex Ghostscript through 2017-04-26 allows -dSAFER bypass and remote command execution via .rsdparams type confusion with a "/OutputFile KEV
    90Now
  • CVE-2021-3781A trivial sandbox (enabled with the `-dSAFER` option) escape flaw was found in the ghostscript interpreter by injecting a specially crafted
    64This week
  • CVE-2016-7976The PS Interpreter in Ghostscript 9.18 and 9.20 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted userparams.
    60This week

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2020-16304Aug 12, 2020 · A buffer overflow vulnerability in image_render_color_thresh() in base/gxicolor.c of Artifex Software GhostScript v9.18 to v9.50 allows a re
    23Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2020-16305Aug 12, 2020 · A buffer overflow vulnerability in pcx_write_rle() in contrib/japanese/gdev10v.c of Artifex Software GhostScript v9.50 allows a remote attac
    23Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2020-16307Aug 12, 2020 · A null pointer dereference vulnerability in devices/vector/gdevtxtw.c and psi/zbfont.c of Artifex Software GhostScript v9.50 allows a remote
    23Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
alpine:ghostscript9.51-r0 · Alpine:v3.13Package registry (OSV)
debian:ghostscript9.51~dfsg-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • A user must open a link or visit a page.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (4 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records