CVE-2023-43115

In Artifex Ghostscript through 10.01.2, gdevijs.c in GhostPDL can lead to remote code execution via crafted PostScript documents because they can switch to the IJS device, or change the IjsServer parameter, after SAFER has been activated. NOTE: it is a documented risk that the IJS server can be specified on a gs command line (the IJS device inherently must execute a command to start the IJS server).

Read the notes from the security team

Status

Show unmaintained releases

Package	Ubuntu Release	Status
ghostscript	23.10 mantic	Fixed 10.01.2~dfsg1-0ubuntu2.1
	23.04 lunar	Fixed 10.0.0~dfsg1-0ubuntu1.4
	22.04 LTS jammy	Fixed 9.55.0~dfsg1-0ubuntu5.5
	20.04 LTS focal	Fixed 9.50~dfsg-5ubuntu4.11
	18.04 LTS bionic	Ignored patch not applicable
	16.04 LTS xenial	Ignored patch not applicable
	14.04 LTS trusty	Ignored end of standard support

Notes

rodrigo-zaiden

the risk of having programs being executed with IJS server is documented in the start of the devices/gdevijs.c source file and in the online documentation: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/gs10.02.0/Devices.html#ijs-inkjet-and-other-raster-devices "Note also that if -dSAFER is not specified, it’s possible for PostScript code to set this parameter, so it can cause arbitrary code to be executed." the commit that fixes this issue makes it clear that there is no way to properly validate it. what the fix does is to provide a minimal guard based on file opening path validation. it will prevent PostScript programs switching to the IJS device after SAFER has been activated. file opening path validation was added in version 9.28, with commmit 9de16a6637b73e35f79d2d622de403b24e6502f2, so in Ubuntu it is applicable starting from focal, for previous versions, the remediation is not applicable. applying file opening path validation for older versions sounds risky and could possible bring other problems.

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package	Patch details
ghostscript	Upstream: https://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git;a=commit;h=e59216049cac290fb437a04c4f41ea46826cfba5

Severity score breakdown

Parameter	Value
Base score	8.8 · High
Attack vector	Network
Attack complexity	Low
Privileges required	None
User interaction	Required
Scope	Unchanged
Confidentiality	High
Integrity impact	High
Availability impact	High
Vector	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

USN-6433-1
Ghostscript vulnerability
17 October 2023