Vulnerability · Published Oct 14, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-85714Stirling-PDF: Remote Code Execution via H2
Critical 9.1
In plain English
A critical-severity code injection in Stirling-PDF from Stirling-Tools. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 3.4% (higher than 89% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: Nuclei.
Official description
Stirling-PDF is a locally hosted web application that facilitates various operations on PDF files. Prior to 2.13.2, an authenticated administrator using the default H2 database and security mode can upload a crafted SQL file to POST /api/v1/database/import-database. DatabaseService.validateSqlContent() splits normalized input on semicolons and accepts a statement when it contains any allowed keyword, allowing dangerous H2 functions such as FILE_READ and CSVWRITE, plus CREATE ALIAS, to bypass the insufficient whitelist and execute side effects when RUNSCRIPT processes the file. This permits arbitrary file access. The demonstrated operating-system command execution chain writes attacker-controlled startup files to a user-site location and then triggers an application Python interpreter configured to load those startup files, resulting in command execution as the JVM service account. This issue is fixed in version 2.13.2.
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Stirling-Tools | Stirling-PDF | < 2.13.2 |
Weakness: CWE-94 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
References
- https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/security/advisories/GHSA-mrr8-934j-4g8m x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/pull/6796 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/commit/d06d3cabaf5b8a7dcd0dbfc584828d8e687e5dd5 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/releases/tag/v2.13.2 x_refsource_MISC