OS Command Injection in gotenberg - CVE-2026-42589
Published: May 5, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU129641
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-42589
CWE-ID: CWE-78
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: thecodingmachine
Affected software:
gotenberg
gotenberg
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code.
The vulnerability exists due to improper neutralization of special elements used in an os command in the /forms/pdfengines/metadata/write endpoint when processing JSON metadata keys. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted HTTP request with a metadata key containing embedded newline characters to execute arbitrary code.
The issue occurs because newline characters in a JSON metadata key are forwarded to ExifTool and can inject additional flags such as -if, which evaluates Perl expressions.
How to mitigate CVE-2026-42589
Install security update from vendor's website.