Gotenberg up to 8.30.1 Metadata Write Endpoint argument injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Gotenberg up to 8.30.1. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component Metadata Write Endpoint. The manipulation leads to argument injection. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-40281. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available. To fix this issue, it is recommended to deploy a patch.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Gotenberg up to 8.30.1. This issue affects an unknown function of the component Metadata Write Endpoint. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a argument injection vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-88. The product constructs a string for a command to be executed by a separate component in another control sphere, but it does not properly delimit the intended arguments, options, or switches within that command string. Impacted is integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-40281 since 04/10/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1059 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Applying the patch 405f1069c026bb08f319fb5a44e5c67c33208318 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com.

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Productinfo

Name

• Gotenberg

Version

• 8.30.0
• 8.30.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/

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