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CVE-2026-42589

CRITICAL Exploitation: PoC
9.8
CVSS 3.1
Description
Gotenberg is a Docker-powered stateless API for PDF files. Prior to 8.31.0, Gotenberg's /forms/pdfengines/metadata/write HTTP endpoint accepts a JSON metadata object and passes its keys directly to ExifTool via the go-exiftool library. No validation is performed on key characters. A \n embedded in a JSON key splits the ExifTool stdin stream into a new argument line, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary ExifTool flags — including -if, which evaluates Perl expressions. This achieves unauthenticated OS command execution in a single HTTP request. The response is HTTP 200 with a valid PDF, making the attack transparent to basic monitoring. This vulnerability is fixed in 8.31.0.

Metadata

CVE ID
CVE-2026-42589
State
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Reserved
2026-04-29 00:31 UTC
Published
2026-05-14 15:11 UTC
Last updated
2026-05-14 18:59 UTC
Primary CWE
CWE-78
CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in …
Vendor / Product
gotenberg / gotenberg
Sources
cve.org  ·  NVD

Severity & Metrics

9.8 CRITICAL CVSS 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
SSVC — CISA Coordinator
Exploitation
PoC
Automatable
yes
Tech. Impact
total
Affected products (1)
VendorProductPlatformVersions
gotenberg gotenberg — < 8.31.0
Weakness (CWE)
CWESourceDescription
CWE-78 cna CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
CVSS scores (1)
ScoreSeverityVersionSourceVector
9.8 CRITICAL 3.1 cna CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
References (1)
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