diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pgf.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pgf.py
index 48b6e8ac152c..2d2e24c3286c 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pgf.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pgf.py
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ def _setup_latex_process(self, *, expect_reply=True):
         # it.
         try:
             self.latex = subprocess.Popen(
-                [mpl.rcParams["pgf.texsystem"], "-halt-on-error"],
+                [mpl.rcParams["pgf.texsystem"], "-halt-on-error", "-no-shell-escape"],
                 stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                 encoding="utf-8", cwd=self.tmpdir)
         except FileNotFoundError as err:
@@ -848,7 +848,7 @@ def print_pdf(self, fname_or_fh, *, metadata=None, **kwargs):
             texcommand = mpl.rcParams["pgf.texsystem"]
             cbook._check_and_log_subprocess(
                 [texcommand, "-interaction=nonstopmode", "-halt-on-error",
-                 "figure.tex"], _log, cwd=tmpdir)
+                 "-no-shell-escape", "figure.tex"], _log, cwd=tmpdir)
             with ((tmppath / "figure.pdf").open("rb") as orig,
                   cbook.open_file_cm(fname_or_fh, "wb") as dest):
                 shutil.copyfileobj(orig, dest)  # copy file contents to target
@@ -965,7 +965,7 @@ def _run_latex(self):
             tex_source.write_bytes(self._file.getvalue())
             cbook._check_and_log_subprocess(
                 [texcommand, "-interaction=nonstopmode", "-halt-on-error",
-                 tex_source],
+                 "-no-shell-escape", tex_source],
                 _log, cwd=tmpdir)
             shutil.move(tex_source.with_suffix(".pdf"), self._output_name)
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
index 66164d4d270e..b7fbbf59d778 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
@@ -1256,8 +1256,9 @@ def _convert_psfrags(tmppath, psfrags, paper_width, paper_height, orientation):
 
     with TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
         psfile = os.path.join(tmpdir, "tmp.ps")
+        # -R1 is a security flag used to prevent shell command execution
         cbook._check_and_log_subprocess(
-            ['dvips', '-q', '-R0', '-o', psfile, dvifile], _log)
+            ['dvips', '-q', '-R1', '-o', psfile, dvifile], _log)
         shutil.move(psfile, tmppath)
 
     # check if the dvips created a ps in landscape paper.  Somehow,
@@ -1301,7 +1302,7 @@ def gs_distill(tmpfile, eps=False, ptype='letter', bbox=None, rotated=False):
 
     cbook._check_and_log_subprocess(
         [mpl._get_executable_info("gs").executable,
-         "-dBATCH", "-dNOPAUSE", "-r%d" % dpi, "-sDEVICE=ps2write",
+         "-dBATCH", "-dNOPAUSE", "-dSAFER", "-r%d" % dpi, "-sDEVICE=ps2write",
          *paper_option, f"-sOutputFile={psfile}", tmpfile],
         _log)
 
@@ -1345,6 +1346,7 @@ def xpdf_distill(tmpfile, eps=False, ptype='letter', bbox=None, rotated=False):
         # happy (https://ghostscript.com/doc/9.56.1/Use.htm#MS_Windows).
         cbook._check_and_log_subprocess(
             ["ps2pdf",
+             "-dSAFER",
              "-dAutoFilterColorImages#false",
              "-dAutoFilterGrayImages#false",
              "-sAutoRotatePages#None",
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/testing/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/testing/__init__.py
index a838a6b09b32..febe28ae4185 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/testing/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/testing/__init__.py
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ def _check_for_pgf(texsystem):
         """, encoding="utf-8")
         try:
             subprocess.check_call(
-                [texsystem, "-halt-on-error", str(tex_path)], cwd=tmpdir,
+                [texsystem, "-halt-on-error", "-no-shell-escape",
+                 str(tex_path)], cwd=tmpdir,
                 stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
         except (OSError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
             return False
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dviread.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dviread.py
index 33fe9bb150d2..8c2ab203d17f 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dviread.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dviread.py
@@ -69,9 +69,9 @@ def test_dviread(tmp_path, engine, monkeypatch):
     shutil.copy(dirpath / "test.tex", tmp_path)
     shutil.copy(cbook._get_data_path("fonts/ttf/DejaVuSans.ttf"), tmp_path)
     cmd, fmt = {
-        "pdflatex": (["latex"], "dvi"),
-        "xelatex": (["xelatex", "-no-pdf"], "xdv"),
-        "lualatex": (["lualatex", "-output-format=dvi"], "dvi"),
+        "pdflatex": (["latex", "-no-shell-escape"], "dvi"),
+        "xelatex": (["xelatex", "-no-pdf", "-no-shell-escape"], "xdv"),
+        "lualatex": (["lualatex", "-output-format=dvi", "-no-shell-escape"], "dvi"),
     }[engine]
     if shutil.which(cmd[0]) is None:
         pytest.skip(f"{cmd[0]} is not available")
@@ -119,7 +119,8 @@ def test_dviread_pk(tmp_path):
         \end{document}
         """)
     subprocess_run_for_testing(
-        ["latex", "test.tex"], cwd=tmp_path, check=True, capture_output=True)
+        ["latex", "-no-shell-escape", "test.tex"],
+        cwd=tmp_path, check=True, capture_output=True)
     with dr.Dvi(tmp_path / "test.dvi", None) as dvi:
         pages = [*dvi]
     data = [
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py b/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
index 35651a94aa85..58263088531a 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
@@ -299,8 +299,8 @@ def make_dvi(cls, tex, fontsize):
                 Path(tmpdir, "file.tex").write_text(
                     cls._get_tex_source(tex, fontsize), encoding='utf-8')
                 cls._run_checked_subprocess(
-                    ["latex", "-interaction=nonstopmode", "--halt-on-error",
-                     "file.tex"], tex, cwd=tmpdir)
+                    ["latex", "-interaction=nonstopmode", "-halt-on-error",
+                     "-no-shell-escape", "file.tex"], tex, cwd=tmpdir)
                 Path(tmpdir, "file.dvi").replace(dvipath)
                 # Also move the tex source to the main cache directory, but
                 # only for backcompat.