CVE-2024-56411 – phpoffice/phpspreadsheet

Package

Manager: composer
Name: phpoffice/phpspreadsheet
Vulnerable Version: >=3.0.0 <3.7.0 || >=0 <1.29.7 || >=2.0.0 <2.1.6 || >=2.2.0 <2.3.5

Severity

Level: Medium

CVSS v3.1: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:A/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N

EPSS: 0.0009 pctl0.26559

Details

PhpSpreadsheet has a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability of the hyperlink base in the HTML page header # Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability of the hyperlink base in the HTML page header **Product**: Phpspreadsheet **Version**: version 3.6.0 **CWE-ID**: CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') **CVSS vector v.3.1**: 5.4 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N) **CVSS vector v.4.0**: 4.8 (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:A/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N) **Description**: the HTML page is formed without sanitizing the hyperlink base **Impact**: executing arbitrary JavaScript code in the browser **Vulnerable component**: class `PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html`, method `generateHTMLHeader` **Exploitation conditions**: a user viewing a specially generated Excel file **Mitigation**: additional sanitization of special characters in a string **Researcher**: Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies) # Research The researcher discovered zero-day vulnerability Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability of the hyperlink base in the HTML page header in Phpspreadsheet. The following code is written on the server, which translates the XLSX file into a HTML representation and displays it in the response. *Listing 8. Source code on the server* ``` <?php require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php'; $inputFileName = './doc/Book1.xlsx'; $spreadsheet = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::load($inputFileName); $writer = new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html($spreadsheet); print($writer->generateHTMLAll()); ``` An attacker can embed a payload in a file property that will result in the execution of arbitrary JavaScript code. The Excel file is unpacked and a HyperlinkBase in the file is inserted into the `docProps/app.xml` file. ![fig14](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f68ef7fc-e78e-4424-8753-4318b6ff51c3) *Figure 14. Embedding the payload* After the changes were made, a new archive with the xlsx extension was created. At the moment of converting the xlsx file into the HTML representation, a property is obtained that participates in the formation of a string without sanitization. ![fig15](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0aa7398c-ddd9-4c5a-ab04-41af0236dcba) *Figure 15. Generating the HTML page header using the HyperlinkBase property* After generating and displaying the HTML representation of the XLSX file, arbitrary JavaScript code will be executed. <img width="356" alt="fig16" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c3694661-31e3-4be8-9a86-6eb4dd4647b5" /> *Figure 16. Executing arbitrary JavaScript code* # Credit This vulnerability was discovered by **Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies)**

Metadata

Created: 2025-01-03T17:28:50Z
Modified: 2025-03-06T18:17:33Z
Source: https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2025/01/GHSA-hwcp-2h35-p66w/GHSA-hwcp-2h35-p66w.json
CWE IDs: ["CWE-79"]
Alternative ID: GHSA-hwcp-2h35-p66w
Finding: F008
Auto approve: 1