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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2019-6116

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2019-03-21

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

In Artifex Ghostscript through 9.26, ephemeral or transient procedures can allow access to system operators, leading to remote code execution.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2019-01-24Exploit-DB entryExploit-DB

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-03 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2019-6116?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2019-6116?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Canonical ubuntu linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
14.4= 14.04no fix published
16.4= 16.04no fix published
18.4= 18.04no fix published
18.10= 18.10no fix published
Fedoraproject fedora
BranchAffectedFixed in
28.x= 28no fix published
29.x= 29no fix published
30.x= 30no fix published
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
8.0= 8.0no fix published
9.0= 9.0no fix published

8 more products in the sources.

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • ghostscriptUbuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 9.26~dfsg+0-0ubuntu0.18.04.4
  • ghostscriptUbuntu:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 9.26~dfsg+0-0ubuntu0.16.04.4
  • ghostscriptUbuntu:14.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 9.26~dfsg+0-0ubuntu0.14.04.4
  • ghostscriptSUSE:OpenStack Cloud 7all versions · fixed in 9.26a-23.19.1
  • ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP4all versions · fixed in 9.26a-23.19.1
  • ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP3all versions · fixed in 9.26a-23.19.1
  • ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4all versions · fixed in 9.26a-23.19.1
  • ghostscriptSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3all versions · fixed in 9.26a-23.19.1

61 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2019-6116 Red Hat Product Security360 products fixed · 6 known affected

    ghostscript: subroutines within pseudo-operators must themselves be pseudo-operators (700317)

    ghostscript as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 · ghostscript as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · ghostscript-devel as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · +3 more

  • RHSA-2019:0229 Red Hat Product Security98 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: ghostscript security and bug fix update

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2019:0229 · 98 productsFor details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
  2. Workaround from the vendor Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2019:0229 · 98 productsPlease refer to the "Mitigation" section of CVE-2018-16509 : https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2018-16509
  3. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2019-6116 · 6 productsWill not fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-03 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
EDB-46242
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

  • NVDCVSS 3.17.8read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.06.8read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score41.6 %read 2026-11-03
  • Exploit-DBdetectionread 2026-11-03
  • OSVaffected packages—

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2019-03-21
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-6116?

In Artifex Ghostscript through 9.26, ephemeral or transient procedures can allow access to system operators, leading to remote code execution.

Is CVE-2019-6116 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2019-6116 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 41.6% on 2026-11-03, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2019-6116?

CVE-2019-6116 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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Sources for this record