The pdf14_pop_transparency_group function in base/gdevp14.c in the PDF Transparency module in Artifex Software, Inc.

published 2017-04-03 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-1403

cvss: 5.5; version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.3%; EPSS 1.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 70%
public exploits: 0; none known

The pdf14_pop_transparency_group function in base/gdevp14.c in the PDF Transparency module in Artifex Software, Inc. Ghostscript 9.20 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via a crafted file.

Patch / fix

distros 1 links 1

ghostscript openSUSE Tumbleweed 9.54.0-2.2

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10783-1

bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697444 patch

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2016-10218 updated 2026-11-07 cvss 3.3

ghostscript: NULL pointer dereference in the pfd14_pop_transparency_group function

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ghostscript Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 ghostscript, ghostscript-gtk Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 libgs, ghostscript, ghostscript-gtk, ghostscript-cups Red Hat OpenShift Enterprise 2 ghostscript
affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

1.27% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 70% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

bugs.ghostscript.com https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697444 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.0	5.5	CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD	2.0	4.3	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness

CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference

References

bugs.ghostscript.com /show_bug.cgi?id=697444
exploit, issue-tracking, patch
git.ghostscript.com /?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=d621292fb2c8157d9899dcd83fd04dd250e30fe4

Sources

CVE List CVE-2016-10218
NVD CVE-2016-10218

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary