Description
Artifex Ghostscript before 10.03.1, when Tesseract is used for OCR, has a directory traversal issue that allows arbitrary file reading (and writing of error messages to arbitrary files) via OCRLanguage. For example, exploitation can use debug_file /tmp/out and user_patterns_file /etc/passwd.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | ghostscript | 10.03.0~dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | ghostscript | 10.03.0~dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | ghostscript | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | ghostscript | 10.02.1~dfsg1-0ubuntu7.3 | USN-6897-1 |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | ghostscript | 9.55.0~dfsg1-0ubuntu5.9 | USN-6897-1 |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | ghostscript | 9.50~dfsg-5ubuntu4.13 | USN-6897-1 |
Amazon Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux 2023 | libgs +8 | 9.56.1-7.amzn2023.0.9 | ALAS2023-2024-692 |
| Amazon Linux 2 | libgs +5 | 9.54.0-9.amzn2.0.5 | ALAS2-2024-2614 |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | ghostscript | 10.03.1-r0 | — |
Advisories 4
- USN-6897-1 ghostscript vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Apr 22, 2026
- WID-SEC-2024-1525 Ghostscript: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Jul 8, 2025
- ALAS2-2024-2614 Moderate: ghostscript security update (Amazon Linux 2) Amazon Linux Security Center (ALAS) · Aug 13, 2024
- ALAS2023-2024-692 Moderate: ghostscript security update (Amazon Linux 2023) Amazon Linux Security Center (ALAS) · Aug 6, 2024