Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-HJ44-M5XV-X75Q

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-04-16 03:31 – Updated: 2026-04-17 18:31

Details

MuPDF mutool does not sanitize PDF metadata fields before writing them to terminal output, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary ANSI escape sequences through crafted PDF metadata. Attackers can embed malicious ANSI escape codes in PDF metadata that are passed unsanitized to the terminal when running mutool info, enabling them to clear the terminal display and render arbitrary text for social engineering attacks such as presenting fake prompts or spoofed commands.

Severity

3.3 (Low)


                  
                    CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

4.8 (Medium)


                  
                    CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

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JSON

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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-40505"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-150"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-04-16T02:16:11Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "MuPDF mutool does not sanitize PDF metadata fields before writing them to terminal output, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary ANSI escape sequences through crafted PDF metadata. Attackers can embed malicious ANSI escape codes in PDF metadata that are passed unsanitized to the terminal when running mutool info, enabling them to clear the terminal display and render arbitrary text for social engineering attacks such as presenting fake prompts or spoofed commands.",
  "id": "GHSA-hj44-m5xv-x75q",
  "modified": "2026-04-17T18:31:50Z",
  "published": "2026-04-16T03:31:06Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-40505"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/mupdf/commit/0f17d789fe8c29b41e47663be82514aaca3a4dfb"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://cgit.ghostscript.com/cgi-bin/cgit.cgi/mupdf.git/commit/?id=0f17d789fe8c29b41e47663be82514aaca3a4dfb"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/mupdf/releases/tag/1.27.0"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/mupdf-mutool-ansi-injection-via-metadata"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ]
}

CVE-2026-40505 (GCVE-0-2026-40505)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-04-16 01:20 – Updated: 2026-07-14 20:00

Title

MuPDF < 1.27 mutool ANSI Injection via Metadata

Summary

MuPDF before 1.27 contains an ANSI injection vulnerability in mutool that allows attackers to inject arbitrary ANSI escape sequences through crafted PDF metadata fields. Attackers can embed malicious ANSI escape codes in PDF metadata that are passed unsanitized to terminal output when running mutool info, enabling them to manipulate terminal display for social engineering attacks such as presenting fake prompts or spoofed commands.

Severity

4.8 (Medium)


                        
                          CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

3.3 (Low)


                        
                          CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

SSVC

Exploitation: none Automatable: no Technical Impact: partial

CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)

Decision recorded 2026-04-16 13:53 UTC

CWE

CWE-150 - Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences

Assigner

VulnCheck mitre root Scorecard

References

4 references

URL	Tags
https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/mupdf/releases…	release-notes
https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/mupdf/commit/0…	patch
https://cgit.ghostscript.com/cgi-bin/cgit.cgi/mup…	issue-tracking
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/mupdf-mutool…	third-party-advisory

Impacted products

1 product

Vendor	Product	Version
Artifex Software Inc.	MuPDF	Affected: 0 , < 1.27.0 (semver) Affected: 0f17d789fe8c29b41e47663be82514aaca3a4dfb (git) cpe:2.3:a:artifex:mupdf:::::::: cpe:2.3:a:artifex:mupdf::::::::

Credits

Niel Duysters

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

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                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
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Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.

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GHSA-HJ44-M5XV-X75Q

CVE-2026-40505 (GCVE-0-2026-40505)

Tags

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Nomenclature

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