CVE-2024-33869: 
Ghostscript vulnerability analysis and mitigation

A path traversal and command execution vulnerability was discovered in Artifex Ghostscript versions before 10.03.1. The vulnerability (CVE-2024-33869) was disclosed in July 2024 and affects the path reduction functionality in base/gpmisc.c. This security flaw allows attackers to bypass restrictions on the use of %pipe% through crafted PostScript documents (NVD, Ghostscript Bugzilla).

The vulnerability exists in the 'gpvalidatepathlen' function which first tests if a path has a current working directory (cwd) prefix and then reduces the path. For example, with a path like './../tmp/aa', it first identifies the cwd prefix and reduces it to '../tmp/aa'. When validation fails, it attempts to validate without the cwd prefix by skipping the first two characters, which inadvertently skips the '..' and validates '/tmp/aa' as an allowed path. Additionally, path reduction has a flaw where 'aa/../%pipe%command#' gets reduced to '%pipe%command#', potentially allowing command execution ([Ghostscript Bugzilla](https://bugs.ghostscript.com/showbug.cgi?id=707691)).

The vulnerability can lead to path traversal and command execution through crafted PostScript documents. When exploited, it allows attackers to bypass security restrictions and potentially access or modify files outside of permitted directories. In specific configurations, it can also enable command execution through the %pipe% functionality (NVD, OSS Security).

The vulnerability has been fixed in Ghostscript version 10.03.1. The patch modifies the path reduction functionality to ensure paths do not change type during reduction and properly handles device specifications. Users are strongly recommended to upgrade to version 10.03.1 or later (NVD, Red Hat).