Gotenberg vulnerable to argument injection via newlines in ExifTool metadata values

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Summary

CVECVE-2026-40281
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-05-06 21:16:01 UTC
Updated2026-05-11 14:46:07 UTC
DescriptionGotenberg is a Docker-powered stateless API for PDF files. In versions 8.30.1 and earlier, the metadata write endpoint validates metadata keys for control characters but leaves metadata values unsanitized. A newline character in a metadata value splits the ExifTool stdin line into two separate arguments, allowing injection of arbitrary ExifTool pseudo-tags such as -FileName, -Directory, -SymLink, and -HardLink. This is a bypass of the incomplete key-sanitization fix introduced in v8.30.1. An unauthenticated attacker can rename or move any PDF being processed to an arbitrary path in the container filesystem, overwrite arbitrary files, or create symlinks and hard links at arbitrary paths.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 9.1 CRITICAL from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

EPSS: 0.000860000 probability, percentile 0.245680000 (date 2026-05-12)

Problem Types: CWE-88 | CWE-88 CWE-88: Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection')

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Primary9.1CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
3.1[email protected]Secondary10CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED10CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Application Thecodingmachine Gotenberg All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Gotenberg Gotenberg affected <= 8.30.1 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 github.com Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory
github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/commit/405f1069c026bb08f319fb5a44e5c67c33... [email protected] github.com Patch
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis
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