Vulnerability · Published May 6, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-40281Gotenberg vulnerable to argument injection via newlines in ExifTool metadata values
Critical 10.0
In plain English
A critical-severity argument injection in gotenberg from gotenberg. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 2.3% (higher than 83% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: Nuclei, public proof-of-concept code. Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
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.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v7 | no fix listed | GO-2026-5572 |
| Go | github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8 | 8.31.0 | GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q |
| Go | github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8 | 8.31.0 | GO-2026-5572 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-88 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H