CVE-2026-40281Gotenberg vulnerable to argument injection via newlines in ExifTool metadata values
- 10.0CriticalCVSS base score
- 2.3%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 17% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
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.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Nuclei template for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Show the exploits2
Nuclei templates1 template
- Gotenberg <= 8.30.1 - Remote Code Execution (Nuclei template) (opens in a new tab)
http/cves/2026/CVE-2026-40281.yamlSeverity critical
References tagged exploit1 reference
- https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 26 days later
· 26 days later
Published
- 1 day later
· 1 day later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Critical10.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Critical9.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 2.3% · top 17% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 10.0.
Affected products
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Gogithub.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q (opens in a new tab)
References
References2
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-28214 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-40281)Record last updated .