Use-after-free in MuPDF - CVE-2020-21896
Published: October 17, 2025
Vulnerability identifier: #VU117353
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber
CVE-ID: CVE-2020-21896
CWE-ID: CWE-416
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: Artifex Software, Inc.
Affected software:
MuPDF
MuPDF
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to compromise vulnerable system.
The vulnerability exists due to a use-after-free error within the svg_dev_text_span_as_paths_defs() function in source/fitz/svg-device.c when handling PDF files. A remote attacker can pass specially crafted input to the application and compromise the affected system.
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may allow an attacker to compromise vulnerable system.
How to mitigate CVE-2020-21896
Install updates from vendor's website.