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CVE-2009-5078

21
FAUCET Score

CVE-2009-5078 describes a vulnerability in GNU troff (groff) versions prior to 1.21, specifically within the contrib/pdfmark/pdfroff.sh script, affecting products like Apple macOS and GNU groff. This flaw allows remote attackers to manipulate arbitrary files (create, overwrite, rename, or delete) by providing a crafted document, due to Ghostscript being launched without the -dSAFER option. Rated with a CVSS score of 6.5 (Medium), it presents a low-complexity network attack vector with potential for limited integrity and availability impact. There is no evidence of active exploitation, public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), or significant community discussion or media coverage surrounding this vulnerability.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
<= 1.20.1CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.10CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.11CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.11aCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.11a:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.14CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.14:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

6.5MEDIUM

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
NONE
Integrity Impact
LOW
Availability Impact
LOW
Exploitability Score
3.9
Impact Score
2.5
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
2.31%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
81.5%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-25
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0231 is in the 72nd percentile among its peer group of 23,701 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.0 Mastodon, and 0.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Vendor Patches (1)

applevendor investigatingvia nvd_reference
View patch

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2009-5078Low

groff: pdfroff.sh launches Ghostscript without -dSAFER

Jul 24, 2009

References

ftp.gnu.org / gnu/groff/groff-1.20.1-1.21.diff.gz
Patch
bugs.debian.org / cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi
lists.apple.com / archives/security-announce/2015/Aug/msg00001.html
Vendor Advisory
openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2009/08/09/1
openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2009/08/10/2
support.apple.com / kb/HT205031
Vendor Advisory
securityfocus.com / bid/36381