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ghostscript — security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVAdvisory ID: DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781

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

DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3781

core-osv · Original source

Published 16 Feb 2022, 19:15 UTC

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"
}