CVE-2025-27833

High

Published: 25 March 2025

Published

25 March 2025

Modified

01 April 2025

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0006 18.8th percentile

Risk Priority 16 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-27833 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 18.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-16 (Memory Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Directly remediates the buffer overflow vulnerability in Ghostscript's pdf_fmap.c by requiring timely patching or upgrade to version 10.05.0 or later.

SI-16 Memory Protection good match

prevent

Protects against memory corruption from the buffer overflow by implementing controls like DEP, ASLR, and stack canaries to block unauthorized code execution.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

prevent

Validates PDF inputs including TTF font name lengths to block malformed data that triggers the buffer overflow in Ghostscript.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Buffer overflow in Ghostscript PDF/PostScript processing enables arbitrary code execution via malicious file, directly mapping to Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

NVD Description

An issue was discovered in Artifex Ghostscript before 10.05.0. A buffer overflow occurs for a long TTF font name to pdf/pdf_fmap.c.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-27833 is a buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-120) discovered in Artifex Ghostscript versions before 10.05.0. The flaw occurs in the pdf/pdf_fmap.c component when processing a long TTF font name, potentially leading to memory corruption. This affects systems or applications that use vulnerable Ghostscript installations for PDF or PostScript processing.

Exploitation requires local access (AV:L) with low attack complexity (AC:L) and no privileges (PR:N), but relies on user interaction (UI:R), such as opening a malicious PDF file with Ghostscript. A successful attack can achieve high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), earning a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8. Local attackers could leverage this to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service on the affected system.

The primary advisory reference is the Ghostscript bug tracker at https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=708259. Mitigation involves upgrading to Ghostscript 10.05.0 or later, where the issue is addressed.