Threats / Artifex / CVE-2017-8291
CVE-2017-8291
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Artifex Ghostscript vulnerability
Artifex Ghostscript contains a type confusion vulnerability in .rsdparams handling that bypasses the -dSAFER sandbox restriction, enabling remote command execution.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An attacker can exploit type confusion in Ghostscript's parameter parsing to circumvent security restrictions and achieve arbitrary code execution on systems processing untrusted PostScript or PDF documents.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-05-244EPSS 0.9614 (verify live)5Exploit Weaponized · public PoC6CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
5 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-05-24).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.9614 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Artifex, Ghostscript. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-704 CWE-704.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1853 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
WeaknessCWE-704 · CWE-704
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious PostScript file with a specially-formed .rsdparams directive that exploits type confusion to bypass the -dSAFER sandbox.
Business
Document processing systems that rely on Ghostscript's sandbox become vulnerable to code execution from untrusted input.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I use the /OutputFile parameter to redirect execution context and execute arbitrary system commands outside the intended security boundary.
Business
Confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the host system are compromised through unauthorized command execution.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I deliver the malicious file through email, web upload, or document conversion services that automatically process PostScript or PDF.
Business
Enterprise users and service providers face data exfiltration, lateral movement, and operational disruption at scale.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05