CVE-2026-57485Stirling-PDF: Internal Service Account API Key Disclosure via Pipeline Endpoint

Description

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.

Data: CVE.org, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS, Ubuntu. Published as the sources state it, in English.

Affected products and versions

References and patches

• https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/security/advisories/GHSA-3xxh-mm3g-c9w5
• https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/pull/6047
• https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/commit/de9625942bbc329fdefcfde161476a633a3b3213
• https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/releases/tag/v2.9.0