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Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Feb 4, 2024· Updated May 22, 2025

CVE-2020-36773

CVE-2020-36773

Description

An out-of-bounds write and use-after-free in Ghostscript's txtwrite device allows memory corruption when processing PDF ligatures, fixed in 9.53.0.

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

An out-of-bounds write and use-after-free in Ghostscript's txtwrite device allows memory corruption when processing PDF ligatures, fixed in 9.53.0.

Vulnerability

Artifex Ghostscript before version 9.53.0 contains an out-of-bounds write and use-after-free vulnerability in the devices/vector/gdevtxtw.c file, specifically in the txtwrite device. The issue arises because a single character code in a PDF document can map to more than one Unicode code point (e.g., for a ligature), leading to memory corruption when the txtwrite device processes such mappings [1][2].

Exploitation

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by crafting a malicious PDF document that includes a character code mapping to multiple Unicode code points. When a victim opens the PDF with Ghostscript's txtwrite device (e.g., during text extraction), the vulnerable code path is triggered. No authentication or special privileges are required; the attacker only needs to deliver the PDF to the target [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation results in memory corruption, which could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service. The impact is limited to the context of the Ghostscript process, potentially leading to full compromise of the affected system [1].

Mitigation

The vulnerability is fixed in Ghostscript version 9.53.0, released on 2020-10-20 [2]. Users should upgrade to this version or later. No workarounds are documented; upgrading is the recommended mitigation [1][2].

References
  1. 1177922 – ghostscript: txtwrite has memory issues
  2. Release Ghostscript/GhostPDL 9.53.0 · ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl-downloads

AI Insight generated on May 25, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected products

7

Patches

1
088333d4adf1

For 9.53.0 release

https://github.com/artifexsoftware/ghostpdl-downloadsChris LiddellSep 10, 2020via osv
commit
1 file changed · +2 −2
  • README.md+2 −2 modified
    @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-# ghostpdl 9.52
+# ghostpdl 9.53.0
 
 See:
-https://ghostscript.com/doc/9.52/Readme.htm
+https://ghostscript.com/doc/9.53.0/Readme.htm
 
 Any bugs should be reported to:
 https://bugs.ghostscript.com/

Vulnerability mechanics

Generated on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.

References

4

News mentions

0

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