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Case File

CVE-2021-29475

CRITICAL · CVSS 10 EPSS 1.16% Public Exploit

Source: NVD + CISA KEV + EPSS (historical backfill) · Published 2021-04-26 · Last synced 2026-08-04

CyberRota Analysis

This is a critical severity vulnerability with a CVSS score of 10.0. It affects Java, GitHub, Docker. Public exploit code or proof-of-concept references have been detected in its references.

Public Exploit Signal

A public exploit, PoC, GitHub repository or Metasploit reference was detected for this CVE.

Detected Signals
exploit

Note: these links are listed for security research and verification purposes only.

CVE
CVE-2021-29475
Severity
CRITICAL
CVSS
10
EPSS
1.16%
Java GitHub Docker

Original NVD Description

HedgeDoc (formerly known as CodiMD) is an open-source collaborative markdown editor. An attacker is able to receive arbitrary files from the file system when exporting a note to PDF. Since the code injection has to take place as note content, there fore this exploit requires the attackers ability to modify a note. This will affect all instances, which have pdf export enabled. This issue has been fixed by https://github.com/hedgedoc/hedgedoc/commit/c1789474020a6d668d616464cb2da5e90e123f65 and is available in version 1.5.0. Starting the CodiMD/HedgeDoc instance with `CMD_ALLOW_PDF_EXPORT=false` or set `"allowPDFExport": false` in config.json can mitigate this issue for those who cannot upgrade. This exploit works because while PhantomJS doesn't actually render the `file:///` references to the PDF file itself, it still uses them internally, and exfiltration is possible, and easy through JavaScript rendering. The impact is pretty bad, as the attacker is able to read the CodiMD/HedgeDoc `config.json` file as well any other files on the filesystem. Even though the suggested Docker deploy option doesn't have many interesting files itself, the `config.json` still often contains sensitive information, database credentials, and maybe OAuth secrets among other things.

Related CVEs

Other vulnerabilities affecting the same vendor(s)