CVE-2020-36773 Use after free in n/a

Critical 9.8 Published 4 Feb 2024 Updated 22 May 2025

Attackers can trigger a use-after-free and out-of-bounds write in Ghostscript via crafted PDFs, potentially leading to code execution or crashes.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2020-36773?

CVE-2020-36773 is a critical use after free vulnerability in Artifex Ghostscript, published on 4 Feb 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Artifex Ghostscript before 9.53.0 has an out-of-bounds write and use-after-free in devices/vector/gdevtxtw.c (for txtwrite) because a single character code in a PDF document can map to more than one Unicode code point (e.g., for a ligature).

Weakness: CWE-787, CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-36773?

It affects 1 product.

Linux distribution packages (5)

`ghostscript` SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5	All versions	`9.52-150000.185.1`
`ghostscript` SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5	All versions	`9.52-23.71.1`
`ghostscript` SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5	All versions	`9.52-23.71.1`
`ghostscript` SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5	All versions	`9.52-23.71.1`
`ghostscript` openSUSE:Leap 15.5	All versions	`9.52-150000.185.1`

Products include Artifex Ghostscript.

How do I fix CVE-2020-36773?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2020-36773 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-36773 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Artifex Ghostscript vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2020-36773, GHSA-mwx2-8cmg-6vmj, OESA-2024-1462, OESA-2024-1463, SUSE-SU-2024:0920-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0921-1.