CVE-2026-43893
exiftool-vendored: Argument injection via newline characters in tag names
exiftool-vendored provides cross-platform Node.js access to ExifTool. Prior to 35.19.0, exiftool-vendored starts ExifTool in -stay_open True -@ - mode, where arguments are read from stdin one per line. In affected versions, several caller-supplied strings were interpolated into ExifTool arguments without rejecting line delimiters. A newline or carriage return inside one of those strings could split a single intended argument into multiple ExifTool arguments, allowing argument injection. The fix also rejects NUL bytes as unsafe control characters. Applications that pass attacker-controlled strings to affected APIs may allow an attacker to make ExifTool read files accessible to the ExifTool process, or write output to attacker-chosen file system paths accessible to that process. No remote code execution has been demonstrated. This vulnerability is fixed in 35.19.0.
- Affected
- photostructure · exiftool-vendored.js
- CVSS v3.1 GITHUB
- 8.2 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N - EPSS
- 0.53% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, 44th percentile
- Published
- 2026-05-11
- Updated
- 2026-05-12
Proof-of-concept exploits (1)
- Dobby153/CVE-2026-438930★ · 2026-05-05