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ExploitedIn CISA KEVFix available

CVE-2021-22204

Exploitation confirmed. First attested on 2021-11-17 by CISA-ADP, CISA KEV, GCVE · kevintel.

  • Published2021-04-23
  • WeaknessCWE-94

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

Improper neutralization of user data in the DjVu file format in ExifTool versions 7.44 and up allows arbitrary code execution when parsing the malicious image

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2021-04-2318:15CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2021-11-17Added to the CISA KEV catalogCISA KEV
  3. 2021-11-17Listed as exploited by GCVEGCVE
  4. 2021-11-17Exploitation first reportedCISA KEV
  5. 2022-05-11Exploit-DB entryExploit-DB
  6. 2025-02-0619:49SSVC exploitation set to activeCISA-ADP

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-03 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-22204?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-22204?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Fedoraproject fedora
BranchAffectedFixed in
32.x= 32no fix published
33.x= 33no fix published
34.x= 34no fix published
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
9.0= 9.0no fix published
10.0= 10.0no fix published
Exiftool project exiftool
BranchAffectedFixed in
12.24≥ 7.44, < 12.2412.24

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As GitLab, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • ExifTool
    Affected
    • = >=7.44, <12.24no fix stated

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2022-05-11

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • libimage-exiftool-perlUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 10.10-1ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • libimage-exiftool-perlUbuntu:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 11.88-1ubuntu0.1
  • libimage-exiftool-perlUbuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 10.80-1ubuntu0.1
  • libimage-exiftool-perlDebian:14all versions · fixed in 12.16+dfsg-2
  • libimage-exiftool-perlDebian:13all versions · fixed in 12.16+dfsg-2
  • libimage-exiftool-perlDebian:12all versions · fixed in 12.16+dfsg-2
  • libimage-exiftool-perlDebian:10all versions · fixed in 11.16-1+deb10u1
  • libimage-exiftool-perlDebian:9all versions · fixed in 10.40-1+deb9u1

18 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2021-22204 Red Hat Product Security

    perl-Image-ExifTool: improper neutralization of user data in the DjVu file format allows arbitrary code execution when parsing a malicious image

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. CISA’s required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.due 2021-12-01

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-02 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
EDB-50911
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
17 repositories, unverifiedconvisolabs/CVE-2021-22204-exiftoolse162xg/CVE-2021-22204bilkoh/POC-CVE-2021-22204PenTestical/CVE-2021-22204AssassinUKG/CVE-2021-22204
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
2 modulesexploit/multi/http/gitlab_exif_rcerank: excellentexploit/unix/fileformat/exiftool_djvu_ant_perl_injectionrank: excellentModule metadata: Metasploit Framework, © Rapid7, Inc., BSD-3-Clause.
Metasploit Framework

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Date Added
2021-11-17
Patch Due Date
2021-12-01
Ransomware Use
Unknown
Required Action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2021-04-23
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-22204?

Improper neutralization of user data in the DjVu file format in ExifTool versions 7.44 and up allows arbitrary code execution when parsing the malicious image

Is CVE-2021-22204 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2021-22204 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it has been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. CISA requires federal agencies to patch by 2021-12-01.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-22204?

CVE-2021-22204 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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