Gotenberg is a Docker-powered stateless API for PDF files. Prior to 8.31.0, Gotenberg's /forms/pdfengines/metadata/write HTTP endpoint accepts a JSON metadata object and passes its keys directly to ExifTool via the go-exiftool library. No validation is performed on key characters. A \n embedded in a JSON key splits the ExifTool stdin stream into a new argument line, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary ExifTool flags — including -if, which evaluates Perl expressions. This achieves unauthenticated OS command execution in a single HTTP request. The response is HTTP 200 with a valid PDF, making the attack transparent to basic monitoring. This vulnerability is fixed in 8.31.0.
CVE-2026-42589
Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-05-07. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 9.8
- EG Score
- 9.8(medium)
- EG Risk
- —
- EPSS
- 85.7%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
May 14, 2026
Last Modified
May 18, 2026
Advisory Details (1)
Auto-updated Jun 21, 2026Unauthenticated RCE in Gotenberg via ExifTool Metadata Key Injection · Advisory · gotenberg/gotenberg · GitHub
https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-rqgh-gxv4-6657Patch Availability(1)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| go | github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8 | — | ghsa |
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
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Go(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8 | 8.29.1 | — | — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 8× in last 7d / 43× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. 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. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 190 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:31 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-18 01:59 UTCOSV refresh
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- 2026-07-01 15:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 21:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 12:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-06-28 04:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 02:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-27 22:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-27 13:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-27 08:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-27 03:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-26 20:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-26 03:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-25 23:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-25 19:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-24 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:33 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:52 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:52 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 20:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-17 17:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 13:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-17 02:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-16 22:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-16 17:52 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 11:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-16 05:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-16 00:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-15 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 08:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-15 03:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-14 23:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-14 19:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-14 15:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-14 11:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-14 07:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-14 03:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-13 23:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-13 23:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 09:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-13 05:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-13 01:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-12 23:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 23:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 21:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-12 17:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-12 13:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-12 09:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-12 05:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-12 01:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-11 20:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-11 16:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-11 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-11 12:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-11 08:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-11 04:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-11 00:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-10 22:18 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 20:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-10 16:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-10 13:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 13:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 12:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-10 08:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-10 04:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-10 00:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-09 20:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-09 16:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain. Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Nucleihttp/cves/2026/CVE-2026-42589.yamlFirst seen Jan 1, 2026
Gotenberg - Command Injection
Open source ↗
Frequently asked(5)
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Dependency Blast Radius
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