ghostscript — security advisory
A trivial sandbox (enabled with the `-dSAFER` option) escape flaw was found in the ghostscript interpreter by injecting a specially crafted pipe command. This flaw allows a specially crafted document to execute arbitrary commands on the system in the context of the ghostscript interpreter. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality, integrity, as well as system availability.
- Products
- ghostscript
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- 9.53.3~dfsg-8
- CVEs
- CVE-2021-3781
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 1 Nov 2026, 00:43 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
A trivial sandbox (enabled with the `-dSAFER` option) escape flaw was found in the ghostscript interpreter by injecting a specially crafted pipe command. This flaw allows a specially crafted document to execute arbitrary commands on the system in the context of the ghostscript interpreter. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality, integrity, as well as system availability.
osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781
ghostscript
Fixed versions: 9.53.3~dfsg-8
ghostscript
Fixed versions: 9.53.3~dfsg-8
ghostscript
Fixed versions: 9.53.3~dfsg-8
Complete source record
{
"id": "e1def83bf6c0a2615f078892649b10057ecfa5492ecd73ccbdc7c6ada0592f53",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781",
"summary": "A trivial sandbox (enabled with the `-dSAFER` option) escape flaw was found in the ghostscript interpreter by injecting a specially crafted pipe command. This flaw allows a specially crafted document to execute arbitrary commands on the system in the context of the ghostscript interpreter. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality, integrity, as well as system availability.",
"evidence": "osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781",
"products": [
{
"name": {
"value": "ghostscript",
"evidence": "/affected/0/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "9.53.3~dfsg-8",
"evidence": "/affected/0/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "ghostscript",
"evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "9.53.3~dfsg-8",
"evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "ghostscript",
"evidence": "/affected/2/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "9.53.3~dfsg-8",
"evidence": "/affected/2/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
}
],
"severity": "critical",
"structured": {
"id": "DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781",
"aliases": [
"DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "9.53.3~dfsg-8"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ghostscript",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/ghostscript?arch=source&distro=bookworm",
"ecosystem": "Debian:12"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "9.53.3~dfsg-8"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ghostscript",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/ghostscript?arch=source&distro=trixie",
"ecosystem": "Debian:13"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "9.53.3~dfsg-8"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ghostscript",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/ghostscript?arch=source&distro=forky",
"ecosystem": "Debian:14"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-23T18:03:38.280038467Z",
"provider": "osv",
"upstream": [
"CVE-2021-3781"
],
"references": [
"https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-3781"
]
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2021-3781",
"evidence": "/upstream"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 422092,
"published_at": "2022-02-16T19:15:08.817+00:00"
}