Improper neutralization of user data in the DjVu file format in ExifTool versions 7.44 and up allows arbitrary code execution when parsing the malicious image
CVE-2021-22204
“▲” beside the score: it is higher than NVD's CVSS score.
Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-17), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 6.8 retained for reference. The 9.0 is the floor for confirmed exploitation, not an impact rating: this CVE's impact severity (EG Severity) is CVSS 7.8 HIGH under GitHub Security Advisory CVSS. Confidence: HIGH.
Also known asEUVD-2021-9350 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV) — the reason this is sooner than the SSVC decision on this page at every mission impact level
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 6.8
- EG Score
- 9.0CRITICALhigh confidence
- EG Risk
- 75EG Risk 75/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity78% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 7.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation100% × 40%Fixed at 100% for a CISA KEV listing: EchelonGraph's rule.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high. - EPSS PROB
- >99.9%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99th
- KEV
- ⚠ Exploited
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (9.0): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.0 is the CISA KEV floor for confirmed exploitation, not an impact rating: its impact severity (EG Severity) is CVSS 7.8 HIGH.
- EG Severity
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- >99.9% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-11-01). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- CISA KEV and EG-KEV Tier 1 (exploited in the wild)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV yes (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
CISA required action“Apply updates per vendor instructions.”
Quoted verbatim from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. CISA directs it at US federal civilian executive branch agencies under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04, which replaced BOD 22-01 on 10 June 2026; it is not EchelonGraph's advice. CISA's notes: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22204
Published
April 23, 2021
Last Modified
November 3, 2025
Advisory Details (10)
Auto-updated Oct 27, 2026[SECURITY] [DLA 2663-1] libimage-exiftool-perl security update
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/05/msg00018.html2021/CVE-2021-22204.json · master · GitLab.org / GitLab CVE assignments · GitLab
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22204.jsoncommit cf0f4e7dcd02 (exiftool/exiftool)
Fix landed in exiftool/exiftool commit cf0f4e7dcd02 — awaiting tagged release
https://github.com/exiftool/exiftool/commit/cf0f4e7dcd024ca99615bfd1102a841a25dde031#diff-fa0d652d10dbcd246e6b1df16c1e992931d3bb717a7e36157596b76bdadb3800oss-security - Re: [CVE-2021-22204] ExifTool - Arbitrary code execution in the DjVu module when parsing a malicious image
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/10/5oss-security - [CVE-2021-22204] ExifTool - Arbitrary code execution in the DjVu module when parsing a malicious image
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/09/1Packet Storm
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/167038/ExifTool-12.23-Arbitrary-Code-Execution.htmlPacket Storm
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164994/GitLab-13.10.2-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlPatch Availability(2)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fix (by version range) / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | libimage-exiftool-perl (12.05-1ubuntu0.1) @ groovy | 2026-11-01 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | libimage-exiftool-perl (10.10-1ubuntu0.1~esm1) @ xenial | 2026-11-01 | ubuntu |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:10(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libimage-exiftool-perl | 11.16-1 |
| — |
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libimage-exiftool-perl | — |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libimage-exiftool-perl | — |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libimage-exiftool-perl | — |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libimage-exiftool-perl | — |
| — |
Debian:9(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libimage-exiftool-perl | 10.40-1 |
| — |
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
All Vendor Advisories
(2)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 20× in last 7d / 150× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 1,458 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 1,358 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-11-02 07:40 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-11-02 07:40 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub severity MODERATE · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-11-01 07:34 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-11-01 07:34 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-11-01 07:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-31 07:28 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-31 07:28 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-31 07:27 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-30 07:21 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-30 07:21 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-30 07:21 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-29 07:15 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-29 07:15 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-29 07:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-28 07:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-28 07:09 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-28 07:09 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-27 07:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-27 07:02 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-27 07:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-26 06:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-25 18:34 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-25 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS >99.9% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-25 06:49 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-25 06:49 UTCVendor advisory
Show 75 moreShow fewer
- 2026-10-25 06:48 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-24 06:42 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-24 06:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-23 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS >99.9% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-23 06:32 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-23 06:32 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-23 06:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-22 06:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-22 06:26 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-21 06:19 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-21 06:19 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-21 06:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-20 06:13 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-20 06:13 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-20 06:13 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-19 06:07 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-19 06:07 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-19 06:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-18 05:59 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-18 05:59 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-18 05:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-17 05:52 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 05:52 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-17 05:52 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-16 05:45 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-16 05:45 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-16 05:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-15 05:38 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-15 05:38 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-15 05:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-14 05:31 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-14 05:31 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-13 05:23 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-12 19:24 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 05:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-12 00:54 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-12 00:53 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 20:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 20:35 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-11 20:35 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 16:17 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 16:17 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-11 16:17 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 11:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 11:58 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-11 11:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 07:37 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 03:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 23:00 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-10 23:00 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 18:41 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-10 18:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 14:24 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-10 14:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 10:05 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 05:47 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-10 05:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 01:30 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-10 01:30 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 21:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 16:51 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 12:34 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-09 12:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 08:15 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-09 08:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 03:57 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-09 03:57 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 23:39 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-08 23:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 19:22 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-08 19:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 15:04 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-08 15:04 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 10:46 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-08 10:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
Publicly available exploits
(13 references, 10 shown)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (2 Metasploit modules, 1 Exploit-DB entry, 10 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.
- Metasploitexploit/multi/http/gitlab_exif_rce✓ verifiedPublished Nov 3, 2021
GitLab Unauthenticated Remote ExifTool Command Injection
Open source ↗ - Metasploitexploit/unix/fileformat/exiftool_djvu_ant_perl_injection✓ verifiedPublished May 11, 2021
ExifTool DjVu ANT Perl injection
Open source ↗ - Open source ↗GitHub PoCAkash7350/CVE-2021-22204Published May 14, 2023
- Exploit-DBEDB-50911Published May 11, 2022
ExifTool 12.23 - Arbitrary Code Execution
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCUNICORDev/exploit-CVE-2021-22204Published Apr 16, 2022
Exploit for CVE-2021-22204 (ExifTool) - Arbitrary Code Execution
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCmr-tuhin/CVE-2021-22204-exiftoolPublished Feb 21, 2022
exiftool exploit
Open source ↗ - Open source ↗GitHub PoCtrganda/CVE-2021-22204Published Dec 29, 2021
- GitHub PoCph-arm/CVE-2021-22204-GitlabPublished Nov 4, 2021
Modification of gitlab exploit anything under 13.10
Open source ↗ - Open source ↗GitHub PoCAssassinUKG/CVE-2021-22204Published Aug 2, 2021
- Open source ↗GitHub PoCPenTestical/CVE-2021-22204Published Aug 2, 2021
Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)
Same product
2 shownDebian:11:libimage-exiftool-perl · Debian:13:libimage-exiftool-perl
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-94 · CWE-74
Frequently asked(6)
What is CVE-2021-22204?
When was the CVE record for CVE-2021-22204 published?
Is CVE-2021-22204 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-22204?
Which products are affected by CVE-2021-22204?
How do I remediate CVE-2021-22204?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2021-22204
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2021-22204?
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