gv: Exploitable Buffer Overflow — GLSA 200408-10

gv contains an exploitable buffer overflow that allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

Affected packages

Package 	app-text/gv on all architectures
Affected versions 	<= 3.5.8-r3
Unaffected versions 	>= 3.5.8-r4

Background

gv is a PostScript and PDF viewer for X which provides a user interface for the ghostscript interpreter.

Description

gv contains a buffer overflow vulnerability where an unsafe sscanf() call is used to interpret PDF and PostScript files.

Impact

By enticing a user to view a malformed PDF or PostScript file an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running gv.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time. All users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest available version of gv.

Resolution

All gv users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge sync

 # emerge -pv ">=app-text/gv-3.5.8-r4"
 # emerge ">=app-text/gv-3.5.8-r4"

References

    CAN-2002-0838