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Critical · 10.0 Scanner template Public exploit CVE-2026-40281 EUVD-2026-28214GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2qGO-2026-5572

Gotenberg vulnerable to argument injection via newlines in ExifTool metadata values

Published May 6, 2026 · Updated May 7, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

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.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
gotenberg gotenberg <= 8.30.1 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 16.0 govulncheck-vulndb 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

GitHub 2 repositories

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Automated scanner template

A ready-made Nuclei template detects this vulnerability automatically. Vulnerabilities with public scanner templates are typically probed across the internet soon after the template appears — exposed systems should be patched first.

Source: projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates (MIT) — updated daily. Only links are listed.

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
Go github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v7 all versions — GO-2026-5572
Go github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8 < 8.31.0 8.31.0 GHSA-q7r4-hc83-hf2q

Advisories 1

References