CVE-2016-7978

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-14. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
9.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 6%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

Use-after-free vulnerability in Ghostscript 9.20 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via vectors related to a reference leak in .setdevice.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EPSS
91.9%
KEV
Not listed

Published

May 23, 2017

Last Modified

May 13, 2026

Advisory Details (6)

Auto-updated May 17, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95336
generic

oss-security - Re: CVE Request - multiple ghostscript -dSAFER sandbox problems

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/10/05/15
generic

[SECURITY] [DSA 3691-1] ghostscript security update

http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3691
generic
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0013.html
generic

GPL Ghostscript: Multiple vulnerabilities (GLSA 201702-31) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-31
generic

697179 – double free with .setdevice

https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697179

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulibgs9-common (9.19~dfsg+1-0ubuntu6.2) @ yakkety2026-05-20ubuntu
redhatghostscript-0:9.07-20.el7_3.12017-01-04redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 35× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-19 17:55 UTCOSV refresh
  23. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 68 more
  1. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-05-30 23:23 UTCOSV refresh
  27. 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-05-24 16:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-05-20 11:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-05-20 11:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-05-20 09:17 UTCEG score recompute
  41. 2026-05-20 09:17 UTCVendor advisory
  42. 2026-05-20 09:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  43. 2026-05-20 05:03 UTCEG score recompute
  44. 2026-05-20 05:03 UTCVendor advisory
  45. 2026-05-20 05:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-05-20 00:49 UTCEG score recompute
  47. 2026-05-20 00:49 UTCVendor advisory
  48. 2026-05-20 00:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  49. 2026-05-19 20:35 UTCEG score recompute
  50. 2026-05-19 20:35 UTCVendor advisory
  51. 2026-05-19 20:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  52. 2026-05-19 16:21 UTCEG score recompute
  53. 2026-05-19 16:21 UTCVendor advisory
  54. 2026-05-19 16:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  55. 2026-05-19 12:07 UTCEG score recompute
  56. 2026-05-19 12:07 UTCVendor advisory
  57. 2026-05-19 12:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  58. 2026-05-19 07:52 UTCEG score recompute
  59. 2026-05-19 07:52 UTCVendor advisory
  60. 2026-05-19 07:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  61. 2026-05-19 03:38 UTCEG score recompute
  62. 2026-05-19 03:38 UTCVendor advisory
  63. 2026-05-19 03:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  64. 2026-05-18 23:23 UTCEG score recompute
  65. 2026-05-18 23:23 UTCVendor advisory
  66. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2016-7978?
CVE-2016-7978 is a critical vulnerability published on May 23, 2017. Use-after-free vulnerability in Ghostscript 9.20 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via vectors related to a reference leak in .setdevice.
When was CVE-2016-7978 disclosed?
CVE-2016-7978 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on May 23, 2017, with the most recent update on May 13, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2016-7978 actively exploited?
CVE-2016-7978 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 91.9% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-7978?
CVE-2016-7978 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2016-7978?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2016-7978, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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