CVE-2024-29511
Artifex Ghostscript ≤ 10.03.1
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2024-29511 is a high-severity Active Debug Code (CWE-489) vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 36% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to CM-2 (Baseline Configuration) and CM-7 (Least Functionality) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-26514
Vulnerability Data
Artifex Ghostscript before 10.03.1, when Tesseract is used for OCR, has a directory traversal issue that allows arbitrary file reading (and writing of error messages to arbitrary files) via OCRLanguage. For example, exploitation can use debug_file /tmp/out and user_patterns_file /etc/passwd.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Baseline configuration defines the approved production state that must exclude active debug code.
Least functionality explicitly prohibits enabling unnecessary debug or diagnostic features in production builds.
Documented development standards and tools can require removal of debug code before release.
Security-integrated SDLC processes ensure debug artifacts are stripped prior to deployment.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly require removal of debug code before release, covering most of this weakness while the control addresses many other development issues.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development and acceptance catches active debug code before deployment.
Configuration management can disable or remove debug features through hardened baselines.
Secure development life cycle mandates removal of debug code before release.
Secure coding standards explicitly prohibit leaving debug code active in production.
Separation of environments reduces risk of debug code reaching production but does not directly address its removal.
Change management can enforce removal of debug code as part of release gates.