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Fencer Intel
critical 10.0

CVE-2026-40281 json

Gotenberg vulnerable to argument injection via newlines in ExifTool metadata values

published 6mo ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2026-28214 , GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q , GO-2026-5572

cvss
10.0
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.3%
EPSS 2.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 83%
public exploits
0
none known, plus a Nuclei check

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • go github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8 8.31.0
  • govulncheck-vulndb openSUSE Leap 16.0 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1

Is CVE-2026-40281 in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
6mo ago

Exploit prediction

2.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 83% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • Nuclei template Gotenberg <= 8.30.1 - Remote Code Execution nuclei detection template
  • github.com https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 10.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
GitHub 3.1 10.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
go github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8
<8.31.0
8.31.0
go github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v7
all versions
 no fix listed

Affected products

  • gotenberg gotenberg

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-88 Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.