CVE-2026-57485 PUBLISHED

Stirling-PDF: Internal Service Account API Key Disclosure via Pipeline Endpoint

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 24.06.2026 Published: 17.08.2026 Updated: 17.08.2026

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.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N
CVSS Score: 8.5

Product Status

Vendor Stirling-Tools
Product Stirling-PDF
Versions
  • Version < 2.9.0 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor CWE
  • CWE-522: Insufficiently Protected Credentials CWE