CVE-2017-8291

CRITICALNVD 7.89.0▲
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-05-24), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: cisa_kev, epss, ghsa, nvd
Trending — 5 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
9.0EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: 97%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: cisa kev · ssvc active · Metasploit · Exploit-DB (verified) · epss top5pct · epss high · public exploitExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

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.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
9.0(high)
EG Risk
81(Attend)
EG Risk 81/100SSVC: Attend

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity90% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk.
EPSS PROB
97%
EPSS %ILE
100%
KEV
⚠ Exploited

Published

April 27, 2017

Last Modified

June 17, 2026

Advisory Details (8)

Auto-updated May 19, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: redhat.
generic🟡 PoC Available

Ghostscript 9.21 - Type Confusion Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit) - Linux local Exploit

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41955/
generic

GPL Ghostscript: Multiple vulnerabilities (GLSA 201708-06) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201708-06
generic

1036453 – (CVE-2017-8291) VUL-0: CVE-2017-8291: ghostscript,ghostscript-library: Artifex Ghostscript through 2017-04-26 allows -dSAFER bypass and remotecommand execution via a "/Ou...

https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1036453
redhat Patch Available

1446063 – (CVE-2017-8291) CVE-2017-8291 ghostscript: corruption of operand stack

Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1446063
generic

697808 – %pipe% security issue

https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697808
generic
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/98476
generic

[SECURITY] [DSA 3838-1] ghostscript security update

http://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3838
generic

oss-security - Re: CVE-2017-8291 ghostscript remote code execution

http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/04/28/2

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulibgs9-common (9.18~dfsg~0-0ubuntu2.4) @ xenial2026-08-30ubuntu
redhatghostscript-0:9.07-20.el7_3.52017-05-12redhat

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.

Affected Packages

(28 across 28 ecosystems)
Alpine:v3.10(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.15(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.16(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.17(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.18(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.19(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.2(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r0—
Alpine:v3.20(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.21(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.22(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.23(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.3(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r0—
Alpine:v3.4(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r0—
Alpine:v3.5(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r0—
Alpine:v3.6(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.7(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.8(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Alpine:v3.9(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.21-r2—
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.20~dfsg-3.1—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.20~dfsg-3.1—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.20~dfsg-3.1—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript—9.20~dfsg-3.1—
Debian:7(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript9.05~dfsg-6.3 ... 9.05~dfsg-6.3+deb7u5 (6 versions)9.05~dfsg-6.3+deb7u6—
Debian:8(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
ghostscript9.06~dfsg-2, 9.06~dfsg-2+deb8u1, 9.06~dfsg-2+deb8u2, 9.06~dfsg-2+deb8u3, 9.06~dfsg-2+deb8u49.06~dfsg-2+deb8u5—

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

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 93× in last 7d / 392× 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.

Showing the most recent 100 of 1,206 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-08-30 04:38 UTCVendor advisory
  2. 2026-08-30 04:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-30 00:47 UTCVendor advisory
  4. 2026-08-30 00:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-29 20:54 UTCVendor advisory
  6. 2026-08-29 20:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-08-29 17:03 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-08-29 17:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-29 13:09 UTCVendor advisory
  10. 2026-08-29 13:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-29 09:14 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-08-29 09:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-08-29 05:22 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-08-29 05:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-29 01:29 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-08-29 01:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-28 21:38 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-08-28 21:38 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-08-28 21:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-28 21:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-28 17:41 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-08-28 17:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-28 13:45 UTCVendor advisory
  24. 2026-08-28 13:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-28 09:53 UTCVendor advisory
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-08-28 09:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-28 05:59 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-08-28 05:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-28 02:07 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-08-28 02:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-27 22:14 UTCVendor advisory
  7. 2026-08-27 22:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-27 18:23 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-08-27 18:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-08-27 17:22 UTCCISA KEV update
  11. 2026-08-27 14:29 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-08-27 14:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-08-27 10:37 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-08-27 10:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-27 06:46 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-08-27 06:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-27 02:54 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-08-27 02:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-08-26 23:03 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-08-26 23:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-08-26 19:11 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-08-26 19:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-26 17:41 UTCCISA KEV update
  24. 2026-08-26 15:20 UTCVendor advisory
  25. 2026-08-26 15:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-08-26 11:27 UTCVendor advisory
  27. 2026-08-26 11:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-08-26 07:35 UTCVendor advisory
  29. 2026-08-26 07:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-08-26 03:43 UTCVendor advisory
  31. 2026-08-26 03:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-08-25 23:52 UTCVendor advisory
  33. 2026-08-25 23:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  34. 2026-08-25 20:00 UTCVendor advisory
  35. 2026-08-25 20:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  36. 2026-08-25 16:09 UTCVendor advisory
  37. 2026-08-25 16:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  38. 2026-08-25 12:17 UTCVendor advisory
  39. 2026-08-25 12:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  40. 2026-08-25 08:25 UTCVendor advisory
  41. 2026-08-25 08:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  42. 2026-08-25 04:33 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-08-25 04:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-08-25 00:41 UTCVendor advisory
  45. 2026-08-25 00:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-08-24 20:50 UTCVendor advisory
  47. 2026-08-24 20:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-08-24 18:52 UTCCISA KEV update
  49. 2026-08-24 16:58 UTCEG score recompute
  50. 2026-08-24 16:58 UTCVendor advisory
  51. 2026-08-24 16:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  52. 2026-08-24 13:07 UTCVendor advisory
  53. 2026-08-24 13:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  54. 2026-08-24 09:15 UTCEG score recompute
  55. 2026-08-24 09:15 UTCVendor advisory
  56. 2026-08-24 09:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  57. 2026-08-24 05:23 UTCVendor advisory
  58. 2026-08-24 05:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-08-24 01:31 UTCVendor advisory
  60. 2026-08-24 01:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  61. 2026-08-23 21:39 UTCVendor advisory
  62. 2026-08-23 21:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
  63. 2026-08-23 17:48 UTCVendor advisory
  64. 2026-08-23 17:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  65. 2026-08-23 13:56 UTCVendor advisory
  66. 2026-08-23 13:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  67. 2026-08-23 10:05 UTCVendor advisory
  68. 2026-08-23 10:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  69. 2026-08-23 06:13 UTCVendor advisory
  70. 2026-08-23 06:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  71. 2026-08-23 02:22 UTCVendor advisory
  72. 2026-08-23 02:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  73. 2026-08-22 22:31 UTCVendor advisory
  74. 2026-08-22 22:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  75. 2026-08-22 18:39 UTCVendor advisory

Publicly available exploits

(2 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-41955✓ verified
    First seen May 2, 2017

    Ghostscript 9.21 - Type Confusion Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit)

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/unix/fileformat/ghostscript_type_confusion✓ verified
    First seen Apr 27, 2017

    Ghostscript Type Confusion Arbitrary Command Execution

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2017-8291?
CVE-2017-8291 is a critical vulnerability published on April 27, 2017. 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.
When was CVE-2017-8291 disclosed?
CVE-2017-8291 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on April 27, 2017, with the most recent update on June 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2017-8291 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2017-8291 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on May 24, 2022, affecting Artifex Ghostscript. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate patching attention.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-8291?
CVE-2017-8291 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.0.
Which products are affected by CVE-2017-8291?
CVE-2017-8291 affects Artifex Ghostscript. The full affected-products list, including version ranges and fixed versions, is shown in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2017-8291?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2017-8291, 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.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2017-8291

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