6.1Medium

CVE-2026-17431

PDF::WebKit versions through 1.2 for Perl allow OS command injection via a 2-arg open() of the output path in to_pdf and of stylesheet paths in _style_tag_for. to_pdf reads the generated PDF back from its path argument, and _style_tag_for reads each entry of the stylesheets list, by assigning the path to a local @ARGV and reading it with the diamond operator, which opens each @ARGV element with Perl's 2-arg open(). A value that begins or ends with a pipe ("| cmd", "cmd |") is run as a command rather than opened as a file, and one that begins with a redirect ("> path", ">> path") opens that path for write or append. to_file forwards its path argument to to_pdf and reaches the same read. Any caller that forwards untrusted input as the output path or as a stylesheets entry can run a command under the process UID; with the "cmd |" form the command's output is returned in place of the PDF, and with the "> path" form the named file is truncated. Stylesheets may only be added to an HTML source, so a URL or file source exposes the output path alone.

What this means for your business

  • An attacker can use it only with access to the machine itself, without a login, but only after tricking someone into an action such as opening a file or a link.

What to do

  1. 1Ask your IT team or provider whether any of your systems use the affected product.
  2. 2If you do, follow the vendor's guidance. No patch reference has been published yet.

Not sure if your company is exposed?

Fastnexa’s certified penetration testers can check whether attackers could use this flaw, or others like it, against your websites, apps and network. The full test is free for our first 10 founding clients until 31 December 2026.

Scoring

CVSS
6.1 (v3.1)
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N
Weakness
CWE-73
Assigned by
9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e

Dates

Published
2026-08-13
Last modified
2026-08-26
Sources
NVD

References