CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2024-45293

Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

Published: Oct 07, 2024 | Modified: Mar 07, 2025
CVSS 3.x
7.5
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CVSS 2.x
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

PHPSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. The security scanner responsible for preventing XXE attacks in the XLSX reader can be bypassed by slightly modifying the XML structure, utilizing white-spaces. On servers that allow users to upload their own Excel (XLSX) sheets, Server files and sensitive information can be disclosed by providing a crafted sheet. The security scan function in src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Security/XmlScanner.php contains a flawed XML encoding check to retrieve the input files XML encoding in the toUtf8 function. The function searches for the XML encoding through a defined regex which looks for encoding=* and/or encoding=*, if not found, it defaults to the UTF-8 encoding which bypasses the conversion logic. This logic can be used to pass a UTF-7 encoded XXE payload, by utilizing a whitespace before or after the = in the attribute definition. Sensitive information disclosure through the XXE on sites that allow users to upload their own excel spreadsheets, and parse them using PHPSpreadsheets Excel parser. This issue has been addressed in release versions 1.29.1, 2.1.1, and 2.3.0. All users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Weakness

The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Phpspreadsheet Phpoffice * 1.29.1 (excluding)
Phpspreadsheet Phpoffice 2.0.0 (including) 2.1.1 (excluding)
Phpspreadsheet Phpoffice 2.2.0 (including) 2.3.0 (excluding)

Potential Mitigations

References