CVE-2026-42589

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-05-07. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Elevated
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 3%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: Elevated riskExposed: 0

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

Gotenberg is a Docker-powered stateless API for PDF files. Prior to 8.31.0, Gotenberg's /forms/pdfengines/metadata/write HTTP endpoint accepts a JSON metadata object and passes its keys directly to ExifTool via the go-exiftool library. No validation is performed on key characters. A \n embedded in a JSON key splits the ExifTool stdin stream into a new argument line, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary ExifTool flags — including -if, which evaluates Perl expressions. This achieves unauthenticated OS command execution in a single HTTP request. The response is HTTP 200 with a valid PDF, making the attack transparent to basic monitoring. This vulnerability is fixed in 8.31.0.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
75(Attend)
EG Risk 75/100SSVC: Attend

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%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk.
EPSS PROB
3%
EPSS %ILE
87%
KEV
Not listed

Published

May 14, 2026

Last Modified

May 18, 2026

Advisory Details (1)

Auto-updated Sep 9, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: github.
github Patch Available🟡 PoC Available

Unauthenticated RCE in Gotenberg via ExifTool Metadata Key Injection · Advisory · gotenberg/gotenberg · GitHub

https://github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/security/advisories/GHSA-rqgh-gxv4-6657

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
gogithub.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8—ghsa

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(2 across 1 ecosystem)
Go(2)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v7———
github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v88.29.1——

Weakness Classification(1)

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

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 37× 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.

Showing the most recent 100 of 320 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-13 16:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-12 15:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-11 18:23 UTCOSV refresh
  4. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-11 09:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-09-10 09:34 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-08 22:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-09-07 16:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-09-04 05:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-09-02 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-01 13:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-28 21:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-08-27 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-26 14:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-23 21:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-23 17:40 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-08-23 17:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-08-23 00:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-22 01:52 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-08-22 01:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-21 23:49 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-08-20 22:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-20 19:37 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-08-20 19:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-19 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-18 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-17 14:41 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-08-17 14:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-17 10:24 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-08-17 10:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-16 12:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-08-16 08:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-16 03:57 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-08-16 03:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-16 02:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-15 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-14 22:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-08-14 18:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-14 14:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-08-14 10:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-08-14 06:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-14 02:25 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-08-14 02:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-13 22:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-08-13 08:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  27. 2026-08-13 03:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-08-12 23:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  29. 2026-08-12 19:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-08-12 14:59 UTCEG score recompute
  31. 2026-08-12 14:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-08-12 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-08-11 23:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  34. 2026-08-11 19:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-08-11 15:25 UTCEG score recompute
  36. 2026-08-11 15:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  37. 2026-08-11 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-08-11 08:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  39. 2026-08-11 04:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  40. 2026-08-11 00:53 UTCEG score recompute
  41. 2026-08-11 00:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  42. 2026-08-11 00:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-08-10 11:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-08-10 06:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  45. 2026-08-10 02:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-08-09 22:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  47. 2026-08-09 18:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-08-09 14:31 UTCEG score recompute
  49. 2026-08-09 14:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-08-09 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-08-09 10:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  52. 2026-08-09 05:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  53. 2026-08-09 01:50 UTCEG score recompute
  54. 2026-08-09 01:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  55. 2026-08-08 16:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-08-08 11:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  57. 2026-08-08 07:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  58. 2026-08-08 03:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-08-07 22:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  60. 2026-08-07 18:56 UTCEG score recompute
  61. 2026-08-07 18:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  62. 2026-08-07 14:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  63. 2026-08-07 10:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  64. 2026-08-07 06:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  65. 2026-08-07 01:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  66. 2026-08-06 18:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  67. 2026-08-06 14:27 UTCEG score recompute
  68. 2026-08-06 14:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  69. 2026-08-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-08-06 09:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  71. 2026-08-06 05:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  72. 2026-08-06 01:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  73. 2026-08-05 21:37 UTCEG score recompute
  74. 2026-08-05 21:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  75. 2026-08-05 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain. Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Nucleihttp/cves/2026/CVE-2026-42589.yaml
    First seen Jan 1, 2026

    Gotenberg - Command Injection

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-42589?
CVE-2026-42589 is a critical vulnerability published on May 14, 2026. Gotenberg is a Docker-powered stateless API for PDF files. Prior to 8.31.0, Gotenberg's /forms/pdfengines/metadata/write HTTP endpoint accepts a JSON metadata object and passes its keys directly to ExifTool via the go-exiftool library. No validation is performed on key characters. A \n embedded in…
When was CVE-2026-42589 disclosed?
CVE-2026-42589 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on May 14, 2026, with the most recent update on May 18, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-42589 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-42589 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 13.3% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-42589?
CVE-2026-42589 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-42589?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-42589, 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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