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CVE-2026-40281

critical

Gotenberg is a Docker-powered stateless API for PDF files.

Vendor / product: Thecodingmachine — gotenberg

Gotenberg 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.

CVSS
9.1
9.1 (CVSS v3.1)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
Severity source: NVD CVSS v3.1 (nvd@nist.gov)
Timeline (UTC)
Published: 2026-05-06 21:16
Modified: 2026-11-11 23:10
NVD status: Analyzed
Last synced 3 hours ago
Verified against the source API 2026-11-11 23:13 UTC
Exploitation
Not listed in CISA KEV (as of last catalog sync)
Absence from KEV does not mean a CVE is not exploited. Exploitation status: unknown (no authoritative evidence in our sources).

Affected products

thecodingmachine / gotenberg <8.31.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-88

Source: NVD / CISA. “NVD-CWE-Other” and “NVD-CWE-noinfo” mean NVD could not assign a specific weakness.

Mitigation & advisories

Vendor advisory: https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q
Vendor advisory: https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/commit/405f1069c026bb08f319fb5a44e5c67c33208318
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q

References

Data sources

NVD CVE API 2.0 — fetched 2026-11-11 23:13 UTC · record ↗

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