CVE-2026-57485
HighCVSS 8.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk17th percentile - higher than 17% of all known CVEs
Summary
Stirling-PDF is a locally hosted web application that facilitates various operations on PDF files. Prior to 2.9.0, the /api/v1/pipeline/handleData endpoint injects the STIRLING-PDF-BACKEND-API-USER API key into pipeline subrequests, allowing an authenticated ROLE_USER to retrieve the key through /api/v1/user/get-api-key, impersonate the internal service account, bypass normal rate limits, and access internal endpoints including /api/v1/info/requests/all and /api/v1/info/load/all. This issue is fixed in version 2.9.0.
Risk Assessment
The vulnerability allows an authenticated user to escalate privileges and access internal functions, which could lead to data leakage or unauthorized operations. However, it requires authentication.
Recommendation
It is recommended to immediately upgrade Stirling-PDF to version 2.9.0 or later. Also, restrict user permissions and monitor access to API endpoints.
Original NVD description (English source)
Stirling-PDF is a locally hosted web application that facilitates various operations on PDF files. Prior to 2.9.0, the /api/v1/pipeline/handleData endpoint in app/core/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/PipelineProcessor.java injects the STIRLING-PDF-BACKEND-API-USER API key into pipeline subrequests, allowing an authenticated ROLE_USER to retrieve the key through /api/v1/user/get-api-key, impersonate the internal service account, bypass normal rate limits, and access internal endpoints including /api/v1/info/requests/all and /api/v1/info/load/all. This issue is fixed in version 2.9.0.