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CVE-2026-42590GHSA-7V3R-M9C8-R855GO-2026-5234

Gotenberg: ExifTool group-prefix syntax bypasses dangerous-tag blocklist

Published
Last modified
published
Not listed in CISA KEV
Fix
Fixed in 8.30.0
None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
  • Exploitation: poc
  • Automatable: yes
  • Technical impact: partial

Summary

Gotenberg is a Docker-powered stateless API for PDF files. Prior to 8.30.0, The ExifTool metadata write blocklist in Gotenberg can be bypassed using ExifTool's group-prefix syntax, enabling arbitrary file rename, move, hardlink, and symlink creation on the server. ExifTool supports group-prefix syntax where File:FileName is processed identically to FileName -- the prefix is stripped by SetNewValue in Writer.pl before tag matching. The safeKeyPattern regex (^[a-zA-Z0-9\-_.:]+$) allows colons, so prefixed tag names pass validation. Any prefix works: File:FileName, System:Directory, a:HardLink, etc. Additionally, FilePermissions, FileUserID, and FileGroupID pseudo-tags are not blocked at all and can modify file attributes without any prefix. This vulnerability is fixed in 8.30.0.

Timeline

  1. CVE published
  2. CISA SSVC assessment

    Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial

  3. Record last updated

Affected versions

  • gotenberg gotenberg

    fixed in 8.30.0

  • github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8Go

    through 8.29.1

  • github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v7Go

    All versions

  • github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8Go

    All versions

References 1

GitHub · gotenberg/gotenberg