What is CVE-2017-8291?
Artifex Ghostscript through 2017-04-26 allows -dSAFER bypass and remote command execution via .rsdparams type confusion with a "/OutputFile (%pipe%" substring in a crafted .eps document that is an input to the gs program, as exploited in the wild in April 2017.
The record classifies CVE-2017-8291 under weakness class CWE-843. Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw requires local access to the host, needs no prior authentication, needs a user to take an action first, and has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability. 20 affected-product entries are recorded, across 3 vendors, listed below. The identifier was first published 3448 days ago.
Severity and exploitation probability
- CVSS v3.1 base score
- 7.8 — HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - EPSS (FIRST)
- 96.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.8% of all scored CVEs
- CISA KEV
- Listed since 2022-05-24, federal remediation deadline 2022-06-14
- Threadlinqs priority
- 9/10 — CISA KEV-listed, which Threadlinqs floors at 9
- Published
- 2017-04-27, last modified 2025-10-21
Is CVE-2017-8291 being exploited?
CISA added CVE-2017-8291 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-05-24, which means the agency holds evidence of exploitation in the wild; US federal civilian agencies had to remediate it by 2022-06-14 under BOD 22-01. Weaponised exploit code for CVE-2017-8291 is publicly available. 5 public proof-of-concept repositories are tracked for this identifier. It currently carries a trending score of 43 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.
- shun1403/CVE-2017-8291 (github)
- shun1403/PIL-CVE-2017-8291-study (github)
- hkcfs/PIL-CVE-2017-8291 (github)
- DaniilOrchikov/PIL-CVE-2017-8291 (github)
- trickest/cve (trickest)
Affected products and versions
- Artifex: Ghostscript
- Debian: Linux 8.0
- Redhat: Enterprise Linux Desktop 6.0, Enterprise Linux Desktop 7.0, Enterprise Linux Eus 7.3, Enterprise Linux Eus 7.4, Enterprise Linux Eus 7.5, Enterprise Linux Eus 7.6, Enterprise Linux Eus 7.7, Enterprise Linux Server 6.0, Enterprise Linux Server 7.0, Enterprise Linux Server Aus 7.3, Enterprise Linux Server Aus 7.4, Enterprise Linux Server Aus 7.6, Enterprise Linux Server Aus 7.7, Enterprise Linux Server Tus 7.3, Enterprise Linux Server Tus 7.6, Enterprise Linux Server Tus 7.7, Enterprise Linux Workstation 6.0, Enterprise Linux Workstation 7.0
How to fix CVE-2017-8291
The record marks a vendor fix as available for CVE-2017-8291. Patch reference: http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/04/28/2. Because CVE-2017-8291 is KEV-listed, US federal civilian agencies were required to apply the vendor fix, or stop using the product, by 2022-06-14. Apply the vendor fix referenced above to every affected product listed in this record, then confirm the running version against the vendor advisory.
Threat activity tracking CVE-2017-8291
1 tracked threat in the Threadlinqs corpus references CVE-2017-8291, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.
- Larva-26005 APT Campaign: Xctdoor and CRAT Backdoors Targeting South Korea (2020–2026) — CRITICAL · 2026-08-06
Sources
Enriched from CVE.org, NVD, FIRST EPSS, CISA KEV, public proof-of-concept repositories. Last verified by Threadlinqs on . This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
Vendor advisory and patch
- debian.org — vendor advisory
- access.redhat.com — vendor advisory
- security.gentoo.org — vendor advisory
- git.ghostscript.com