# CVE-2020-14373: Use after free in ghostscript

> A local attacker can cause a denial of service by supplying a specially crafted PDF file to Ghostscript.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Sep 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2020-14373, GHSA-qpgp-38q3-x9pp

## What is CVE-2020-14373?

CVE-2020-14373 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript, published on 3 Sep 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A use after free was found in igc_reloc_struct_ptr() of psi/igc.c of ghostscript-9.25. A local attacker could supply a specially crafted PDF file to cause a denial of service.

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-14373?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Artifex Ghostscript, Redhat Enterprise Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-14373?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2020-14373 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-14373 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Artifex Ghostscript

- [CVE-2017-8291](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8291/): Artifex Ghostscript Type Confusion (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-3781](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3781/): Command injection in ghostscript (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2025-27831](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-27831/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-27832](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-27832/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-27836](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-27836/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-14373 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-14373 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript, published on 3 Sep 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-14373 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Artifex Ghostscript. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14373/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14373/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-14373
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-14373
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-14373

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14373/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.