CVE-2026-16770

CRITICALPre-NVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-08-13. CISA-ADP (Vulnrichment) CVSS v3.1 baseline 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: cisa-adp, epss, ghsa
Trending — 3 sources updated this week
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

PDF::WebKit versions through 1.2 for Perl allow argument injection into wkhtmltopdf via meta tags in the source document.

For an HTML string or file source, the constructor collects every element in the document head through _pdf_webkit_meta_tags and turns each one into a wkhtmltopdf command line option. KEY is normalized to an option name matching --[a-z0-9-]+ but is not checked against an allow list, VALUE is passed through unchanged as the argument that follows it, and a VALUE of "yes" emits the option as a bare flag. BUILD merges the meta derived options last, so they also override the module defaults and the options passed to new. Switches such as --enable-local-file-access and --cookie-jar are reachable this way. The renderer is executed with an argument list rather than a shell command, so this is argument injection and not shell injection.

Any caller that renders untrusted HTML lets the document choose the renderer's options and override those set by the application, including options that read local files into the resulting PDF or write to a chosen path. A URL source is not scanned, and the scan is skipped when XML::LibXML, a recommended dependency, is not installed.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(high)
EG Risk
59(Track)
EG Risk 59/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
33%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 12, 2026

Last Modified

August 13, 2026

Advisory Details (4)

Auto-updated Aug 20, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

oss-security - CVE-2026-16770: PDF::WebKit versions through 1.2 for Perl allow argument injection into wkhtmltopdf via meta tags in the source document

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/08/13/2
generic

wkhtmltopdf argument injection via HTML <meta> tags · Issue #9 · kingpong/perl-PDF-WebKit · GitHub

https://github.com/kingpong/perl-PDF-WebKit/issues/9

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-16770(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 59× in last 7d / 76× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-08-21 03:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-20 23:44 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-08-20 23:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-20 22:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-20 20:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-20 16:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-08-20 12:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-20 09:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-20 05:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-08-20 01:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-19 22:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-19 18:32 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-08-19 18:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-19 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-19 13:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-19 09:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-19 05:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-08-19 02:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-08-18 22:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-18 18:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-08-18 15:13 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-08-18 15:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-18 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-08-18 10:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-18 06:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 51 more
  1. 2026-08-18 02:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-17 23:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-17 19:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-17 15:48 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-08-17 15:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-17 12:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-17 08:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-17 04:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-08-17 01:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-16 21:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-16 17:55 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-08-16 17:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-16 14:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-16 10:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-16 06:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-08-16 03:20 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-08-16 03:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-16 02:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-15 23:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-08-15 20:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-15 16:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-08-15 12:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-15 09:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-08-15 05:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  27. 2026-08-15 01:45 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-08-15 01:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  29. 2026-08-15 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-08-14 22:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  31. 2026-08-14 18:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-08-14 14:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  33. 2026-08-14 11:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  34. 2026-08-14 07:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-08-14 03:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  36. 2026-08-14 00:14 UTCEG score recompute
  37. 2026-08-14 00:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  38. 2026-08-13 22:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-08-13 20:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  40. 2026-08-13 16:56 UTCEG score recompute
  41. 2026-08-13 16:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  42. 2026-08-13 13:17 UTCEG score recompute 9.80
  43. 2026-08-13 13:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-08-13 13:16 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 9.8 · severity → CRITICAL
  45. 2026-08-13 04:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-08-13 04:20 UTCNVD update
  47. 2026-08-13 03:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-08-13 03:30 UTCMITRE cvelistV5
  49. 2026-08-13 00:22 UTCNVD update
  50. 2026-08-12 23:26 UTCEG score recompute
  51. 2026-08-12 23:25 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-16770?
CVE-2026-16770 is a critical vulnerability published on August 12, 2026. PDF::WebKit versions through 1.2 for Perl allow argument injection into wkhtmltopdf via meta tags in the source document. For an HTML string or file source, the constructor collects every <meta name="pdf-webkit-KEY" content="VALUE"> element in the document head through pdfwebkitmetatags and turns…
When was CVE-2026-16770 disclosed?
CVE-2026-16770 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 12, 2026, with the most recent update on August 13, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-16770 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-16770 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 67.3% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-16770?
CVE-2026-16770 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CISA-ADP / Vulnrichment enrichment; NVD's own analysis pending).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-16770?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-16770, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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