CVE-2026-42589
Gotenberg: Unauthenticated RCE via ExifTool Metadata Key Injection
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.
- Affected
- gotenberg
- CVSS v3.1 GITHUB
- 9.8 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - EPSS
- 3.67% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, 90th percentile
- Nuclei
- critical · CWE-78
- Published
- 2026-05-14
Proof-of-concept exploits (2)
- fineman999/POC_CVE-2026-425894★ · 2026-05-30
- HackfutSecRoot/-GOTENBERG-RCE-CHAIN2★ · 2026-10-03