Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Ghostscript versions before 9.53.0 can corrupt memory while converting certain PDF text to Unicode. Ghostscript is often used behind document preview, conversion, printing, and PDF-processing workflows, so exposure may exist indirectly through applications or servers that process PDFs.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for internet-facing or automated document-processing services first. The issue affects a common file-processing component, and business exposure may be hidden inside PDF conversion, preview, print, or extraction pipelines.
Technical view
The flaw is in Artifex Ghostscript devices/vector/gdevtxtw.c for txtwrite. A single PDF character code can map to multiple Unicode code points, such as a ligature, leading to out-of-bounds write and use-after-free conditions. The CVSS 3.1 score is 9.8.
Likely exposure
Most likely exposure is systems, containers, or applications running Ghostscript before 9.53.0 and processing PDF content. The provided affected-product metadata is incomplete, so confirm installed packages and embedded dependencies rather than relying only on CPE matching.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Risk remains high because the CVSS vector indicates network-reachable, low-complexity, unauthenticated impact with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability consequences.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports the vulnerable component, root cause, fixed release boundary, and upstream commit reference. The bundle does not provide exploit-in-the-wild evidence, complete downstream affected products, or environment-specific compensating controls.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Ghostscript to 9.53.0 or later where applicable.
- Apply distribution vendor packages for Ghostscript if using OS-managed builds.
- Inventory applications that bundle or invoke Ghostscript for PDF processing.
- If upgrade timing is unclear, check Artifex and distribution guidance before accepting untrusted PDFs.
Validation and detection
- Confirm Ghostscript versions across hosts, containers, and build images.
- Review SBOMs and package manifests for Ghostscript before 9.53.0.
- Check document-processing services for Ghostscript txtwrite or PDF text extraction use.
- Verify patched packages came from trusted upstream or distribution sources.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-416: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCWE-787: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2020-36773 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H3.95.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.8CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=702229CVE reference
- https://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=8c7bd787defa071c96289b7da9397f673fddb874CVE reference
- https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1177922CVE reference
- https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl-downloads/releases/tag/gs9530CVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Use After Free
Use After Free represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Out-of-bounds Write
Out-of-bounds Write represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.