Vulnerability Analysis
Gotenberg: Unauthenticated RCE via ExifTool Metadata Key Injection
CVE-2026-42589
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.
Nuclei Template
CVSS Base Score
9.8
CRITICAL
Exploitability:3.9
Impact Score:5.9
Temporal Score:-
EPSS:2.95%
Threat Intelligence Signals
CISA KEV
No
KEV Date Added
—
Ransomware Use
—
KEV Due Date
—
VulnCheck In-the-Wild
No
Nuclei Template
YES
EPSS Score
2.950%
EPSS Percentile
85.4th pct
GHSA ID
GitHub Severity
CRITICAL
SSVC Exploitation
—
SSVC Automatable
—
Vulnerability Class
—
Identity & Timeline
| Status | - |
| Assigning Authority | - |
| CVSS Version / Source | - |
| Reserved | - |
| Published | - |
| Patch Date (date_public) | - |
| Exploit DB Date | - |
| First GitHub PoC Date | - |
| Last Updated | - |
| Time to Patch (Days to fix) | - |
| Exploit Release Gap | - |
| PoC Release Gap | - |
| Exploit DB References | None identified |
Affected Products & Versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected Versions |
|---|---|---|
| No affected products specified. | ||
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