Cyber Posture

CVE-2026-42589

CriticalRCE

Published: 14 May 2026

Published
14 May 2026
Modified
14 May 2026
KEV Added
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Patch
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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score N/A
Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-42589 is a critical-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Threat & Defense Details

Likely Mitigating ControlsAI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SC-27 Platform-independent Applications
addresses: CWE-78

Platform-independent apps typically execute inside a managed runtime or sandbox that restricts direct OS command execution, reducing the ability to exploit OS command injection.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-78

Validates inputs to block special elements that would alter OS command execution.

NVD Description

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…

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\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.

Deeper analysisAI

Automated synthesis unavailable for this CVE.

Details

CWE(s)
CWE-78

References