CVE-2020-15900

Description

Ghostscript's rsearch procedure was vulnerable to an integer underflow, leading to a miscalculation of the size of a buffer, which then can be used to access arbitrary memory. As a result, a specially crafted postscript file could use this flaw to disable the sandbox, which allows arbitrary reads and writes on the file system and execute commands.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score7.39.8N/A
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkN/A
Attack ComplexityLowLowN/A
Privileges RequiredNoneNoneN/A
User InteractionNoneNoneN/A
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityLowHighN/A
Integrity ImpactLowHighN/A
Availability ImpactLowHighN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

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

Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation

Red Hat considers that this flaws allows only partial Availability/Integrity/Confidentiality because the ghostscript process is typically running with an unprivileged user.

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Integrity,Availability,Confidentiality

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Memory; Modify Memory

If the incorrect calculation is used in the context of memory allocation, then the software may create a buffer that is smaller or larger than expected. If the allocated buffer is smaller than expected, this could lead to an out-of-bounds read or write (CWE-119), possibly causing a crash, allowing arbitrary code execution, or exposing sensitive data.

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank Chris Liddell (Artifex) for reporting this issue. Upstream acknowledges Timothy Goddard (Insomnia Security) as the original reporter.

Frequently Asked Questions

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