What is CVE-2017-5951?

CVE-2017-5951 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2017-04-03.

How severe is CVE-2017-5951?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.

Is CVE-2017-5951 known to be exploited?

1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

NULL pointer dereference in Artifex Ghostscript

CVE-2017-5951

The mem_get_bits_rectangle function in base/gdevmem.c in Artifex Software, Inc. Ghostscript 9.20 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via a crafted file.

Published 2017-04-03 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.019 (78.5th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 78th percentile — 78.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.019 · newest: 0.019 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Artifex Ghostscript — versions 9.20

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-476 — NULL Pointer Dereference

Public proof-of-concept exploits

ARPSyndicate/cvemon

References

www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3838 (vendor-advisory)
bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi (Exploit, Patch, Issue Tracking)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/98665 (vdb-entry)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201708-06 (vendor-advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-5951?: CVE-2017-5951 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2017-04-03.
How severe is CVE-2017-5951?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2017-5951 known to be exploited?: 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.