What is CVE-2017-8291?

CVE-2017-8291 is a high-severity vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript, classified under Access of Resource Using Incompatible Type (Type Confusion). CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2017-04-27.

How severe is CVE-2017-8291?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2017-8291 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2017-8291 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-05-24), indicating it is being actively exploited. 26 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

Vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript

CVE-2017-8291

Artifex Ghostscript through 2017-04-26 allows -dSAFER bypass and remote command execution via .rsdparams type confusion with a "/OutputFile (%pipe%" substring in a crafted .eps document that is an input to the gs program, as exploited in the wild in April 2017.

Published 2017-04-27 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.970 (99.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-15.

Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 99.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.970 · newest: 0.970 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Artifex Ghostscript
Debian Linux — versions 8.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop — versions 6.0, 7.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Eus — versions 7.3, 7.4, 7.5
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server — versions 6.0, 7.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Aus — versions 7.3, 7.4, 7.6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Tus — versions 7.3, 7.6, 7.7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation — versions 6.0, 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-843 — Access of Resource Using Incompatible Type (Type Confusion)

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2022-05-24. CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.

BOD 22-01 due date: 2022-06-14.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3838 (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:1230 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/98476 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry, Broken Link)
www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41955/ (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, exploit)
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/04/28/2 (Patch, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201708-06 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi (Patch, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
git.ghostscript.com/ (Broken Link)
bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-8291?: CVE-2017-8291 is a high-severity vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript, classified under Access of Resource Using Incompatible Type (Type Confusion). CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2017-04-27.
How severe is CVE-2017-8291?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2017-8291 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2017-8291 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-05-24), indicating it is being actively exploited. 26 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.