wkhtmltopdf vs IronPDF: Technical Comparison Guide

The CVE-2022-35583 Security Crisis

The Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in wkhtmltopdf allows attackers to:

• Access Internal Services: Reach internal APIs, databases, and services behind firewalls
• Steal Credentials: Access cloud metadata endpoints (AWS, GCP, Azure) to steal IAM credentials
• Port Scanning: Scan internal networks from within infrastructure
• Data Exfiltration: Extract sensitive data through crafted HTML/CSS

The attack vector is straightforward—malicious HTML submitted to a PDF generator:

<!-- Malicious HTML submitted to your PDF generator -->
<iframe src="http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/"></iframe>
<img src="http://internal-database:5432/admin"/>

<!-- Malicious HTML submitted to your PDF generator -->
<iframe src="http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/"></iframe>
<img src="http://internal-database:5432/admin"/>

When wkhtmltopdf renders this HTML, it fetches these URLs from the server's network context, bypassing firewalls and security controls. This vulnerability will never be patched because the project has been officially abandoned.

Affected Wrapper Libraries

All .NET wrappers for wkhtmltopdf inherit the same vulnerabilities:

If your application uses any of these libraries, it is vulnerable to CVE-2022-35583.

wkhtmltopdf Configuration Pattern

wkhtmltopdf wrappers require creating document objects with nested settings configurations:

// NuGet: Install-Package WkHtmlToPdf-DotNet
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet;
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet.Contracts;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var converter = new SynchronizedConverter(new PdfTools());
        var doc = new HtmlToPdfDocument()
        {
            GlobalSettings = {
                ColorMode = ColorMode.Color,
                Orientation = Orientation.Portrait,
                PaperSize = PaperKind.A4
            },
            Objects = {
                new ObjectSettings()
                {
                    HtmlContent = "<h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from HTML.</p>"
                }
            }
        };
        byte[] pdf = converter.Convert(doc);
        File.WriteAllBytes("output.pdf", pdf);
    }
}

// NuGet: Install-Package WkHtmlToPdf-DotNet
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet;
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet.Contracts;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var converter = new SynchronizedConverter(new PdfTools());
        var doc = new HtmlToPdfDocument()
        {
            GlobalSettings = {
                ColorMode = ColorMode.Color,
                Orientation = Orientation.Portrait,
                PaperSize = PaperKind.A4
            },
            Objects = {
                new ObjectSettings()
                {
                    HtmlContent = "<h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from HTML.</p>"
                }
            }
        };
        byte[] pdf = converter.Convert(doc);
        File.WriteAllBytes("output.pdf", pdf);
    }
}

This pattern requires creating a SynchronizedConverter with PdfTools, constructing an HtmlToPdfDocument with GlobalSettings and Objects collections, and manually writing byte arrays to files.

IronPDF Simplified Pattern

IronPDF uses a streamlined approach with the ChromePdfRenderer class:

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;
using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from HTML.</p>");
        pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf");
    }
}

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;
using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from HTML.</p>");
        pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf");
    }
}

The ChromePdfRenderer class eliminates the nested configuration objects, returning a PdfDocument with built-in save methods. For comprehensive HTML conversion guidance, see the HTML to PDF tutorial.

wkhtmltopdf Implementation

wkhtmltopdf uses the Page property within ObjectSettings to specify URLs:

// NuGet: Install-Package WkHtmlToPdf-DotNet
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet;
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet.Contracts;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var converter = new SynchronizedConverter(new PdfTools());
        var doc = new HtmlToPdfDocument()
        {
            GlobalSettings = {
                ColorMode = ColorMode.Color,
                Orientation = Orientation.Portrait,
                PaperSize = PaperKind.A4
            },
            Objects = {
                new ObjectSettings()
                {
                    Page = "https://www.example.com"
                }
            }
        };
        byte[] pdf = converter.Convert(doc);
        File.WriteAllBytes("webpage.pdf", pdf);
    }
}

// NuGet: Install-Package WkHtmlToPdf-DotNet
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet;
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet.Contracts;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var converter = new SynchronizedConverter(new PdfTools());
        var doc = new HtmlToPdfDocument()
        {
            GlobalSettings = {
                ColorMode = ColorMode.Color,
                Orientation = Orientation.Portrait,
                PaperSize = PaperKind.A4
            },
            Objects = {
                new ObjectSettings()
                {
                    Page = "https://www.example.com"
                }
            }
        };
        byte[] pdf = converter.Convert(doc);
        File.WriteAllBytes("webpage.pdf", pdf);
    }
}

IronPDF Implementation

IronPDF provides a dedicated RenderUrlAsPdf method:

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;
using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        var pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.example.com");
        pdf.SaveAs("webpage.pdf");
    }
}

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;
using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        var pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.example.com");
        pdf.SaveAs("webpage.pdf");
    }
}

The RenderUrlAsPdf method leverages the Chromium engine to render pages with full JavaScript execution and modern CSS support—capabilities limited by wkhtmltopdf's 2015 WebKit engine.

wkhtmltopdf Custom Settings

wkhtmltopdf requires nested GlobalSettings with MarginSettings objects:

// NuGet: Install-Package WkHtmlToPdf-DotNet
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet;
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet.Contracts;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var converter = new SynchronizedConverter(new PdfTools());
        var doc = new HtmlToPdfDocument()
        {
            GlobalSettings = {
                ColorMode = ColorMode.Color,
                Orientation = Orientation.Landscape,
                PaperSize = PaperKind.A4,
                Margins = new MarginSettings() { Top = 10, Bottom = 10, Left = 10, Right = 10 }
            },
            Objects = {
                new ObjectSettings()
                {
                    Page = "input.html",
                    WebSettings = { DefaultEncoding = "utf-8" }
                }
            }
        };
        byte[] pdf = converter.Convert(doc);
        File.WriteAllBytes("custom-output.pdf", pdf);
    }
}

// NuGet: Install-Package WkHtmlToPdf-DotNet
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet;
using WkHtmlToPdfDotNet.Contracts;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var converter = new SynchronizedConverter(new PdfTools());
        var doc = new HtmlToPdfDocument()
        {
            GlobalSettings = {
                ColorMode = ColorMode.Color,
                Orientation = Orientation.Landscape,
                PaperSize = PaperKind.A4,
                Margins = new MarginSettings() { Top = 10, Bottom = 10, Left = 10, Right = 10 }
            },
            Objects = {
                new ObjectSettings()
                {
                    Page = "input.html",
                    WebSettings = { DefaultEncoding = "utf-8" }
                }
            }
        };
        byte[] pdf = converter.Convert(doc);
        File.WriteAllBytes("custom-output.pdf", pdf);
    }
}

IronPDF Custom Settings

IronPDF uses RenderingOptions properties for direct configuration:

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;
using IronPdf.Rendering;
using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        renderer.RenderingOptions.PaperOrientation = PdfPaperOrientation.Landscape;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginTop = 10;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginBottom = 10;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginLeft = 10;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginRight = 10;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.PaperSize = PdfPaperSize.A4;

        var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlFileAsPdf("input.html");
        pdf.SaveAs("custom-output.pdf");
    }
}

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;
using IronPdf.Rendering;
using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        renderer.RenderingOptions.PaperOrientation = PdfPaperOrientation.Landscape;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginTop = 10;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginBottom = 10;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginLeft = 10;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginRight = 10;
        renderer.RenderingOptions.PaperSize = PdfPaperSize.A4;

        var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlFileAsPdf("input.html");
        pdf.SaveAs("custom-output.pdf");
    }
}

CLI to C# API Mapping

C# Wrapper API Mapping

Placeholder Syntax Mapping

Security Compliance Requirements

Organizations with security compliance requirements (SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA) cannot accept applications with known critical vulnerabilities. CVE-2022-35583's 9.8 severity rating triggers immediate remediation requirements in most security frameworks.

Modern CSS Framework Adoption

Teams adopting Bootstrap 5, Tailwind CSS, or custom CSS Grid layouts find that wkhtmltopdf cannot render these correctly. The 2015 WebKit engine lacks CSS Grid support entirely and has broken Flexbox implementation.

JavaScript Application Requirements

Applications using modern JavaScript features—ES6+ syntax including arrow functions, async/await, classes, and template literals—experience failures in wkhtmltopdf. IronPDF's Chromium engine provides complete JavaScript support.

Cloud and Container Deployments

Modern deployment strategies using Docker, Kubernetes, or cloud platforms benefit from IronPDF's container-friendly architecture. Security scans of wkhtmltopdf binaries in containers will flag the CVE vulnerability.

Long-Term Maintenance Concerns

With no future updates expected for wkhtmltopdf, teams face increasing technical debt as web standards evolve. IronPDF's active development ensures continued compatibility with future .NET versions, including .NET 10 expected in 2026.

Async Support

IronPDF provides async/await support for web application performance:

public async Task<byte[]> GeneratePdfAsync(string html)
{
    var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
    var pdf = await renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdfAsync(html);
    return pdf.BinaryData;
}

public async Task<byte[]> GeneratePdfAsync(string html)
{
    var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
    var pdf = await renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdfAsync(html);
    return pdf.BinaryData;
}

This prevents thread blocking in high-load web applications—a capability not available with wkhtmltopdf's synchronous-only wrappers.