CVE-2026-40281: Gotenberg vulnerable to argument injection via newlines in ExifTool metadata values
- Is it exploited?
Reported, not confirmed by CISA. VulnCheck KEV lists it as exploited in the wild. CISA has not added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of .
VulnCheck KEV lists it since . VulnCheck's own honeypots also recorded exploitation attempts.
- How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?
- 2.3%
Up from 2.1% on .
EPSS score, percentile 82.9 of all scored records. A probability estimated by FIRST, not a report of exploitation.
CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record lists exploitation as poc.
- How severe?
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS v3.1 base score, given by the CNA
- What should I do?
CISA has set no required action, because the vulnerability is not in KEV.
The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.
- Which versions are affected?
Affected
- <= 8.30.1
Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of ; VulnCheck KEV, as of ; FIRST EPSS, as of ; CVE List, as of . About the data.
Description
Gotenberg vulnerable to argument injection via newlines in ExifTool metadata values
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.
Source: CVE List, as of . About the data.
What to do
Advisories and patches
The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.
This summary is based on the CVE record as of . Check the vendor's advisory before you act: affected versions and fixes can change.
Affected products and versions
Versions by product, as listed in the CVE record (1 product)
| Status | Versions |
|---|---|
| Affected | <= 8.30.1 |
Source: CVE List, as of . About the data.
Weakness
CWE-88
- CWE-88: Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection')
CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| CVE record published | |
| CVE record last updated |