How severe is CVE-2020-15900?

CVE-2020-15900 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.8, rated critical severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.

Is CVE-2020-15900 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 5% (91st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2020-15900?

CVE-2020-15900 primarily affects Artifex Ghostscript. In total, 5 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2020-15900?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its critical severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2020-15900 published?

CVE-2020-15900 was published on 2020-07-28 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2020-15900

CVE-2020-15900 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript with a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.8. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-191.

Key facts

Severity: Critical (CVSS 3.x base score 9.8)
CVSS v2: 7.5
EPSS exploit prediction: 5% (91st percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-191
Affected product: Artifex Ghostscript
Published: 2020-07-28
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-15900?: A memory corruption issue was found in Artifex Ghostscript 9.50 and 9.52. Use of a non-standard PostScript operator can allow overriding of file access controls. The 'rsearch' calculation for the 'post' size resulted in a size that was too large, and could underflow to max uint32_t. This was fixed in commit 5d499272b95a6b890a1397e11d20937de000d31b.
How severe is CVE-2020-15900?: CVE-2020-15900 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.8, rated critical severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.
Is CVE-2020-15900 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 5% (91st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2020-15900?: CVE-2020-15900 primarily affects Artifex Ghostscript. In total, 5 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2020-15900?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its critical severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2020-15900 published?: CVE-2020-15900 was published on 2020-07-28 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (5)

cpe:2.3:a:artifex:ghostscript:9.50:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:artifex:ghostscript:9.52:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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