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PhpSpreadsheet HTML writer is vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting via JavaScript hyperlinks

Moderate
oleibman published GHSA-r8w8-74ww-j4wh Oct 7, 2024

Package

composer phpoffice/phpspreadsheet (Composer)

Affected versions

>= 2.2.0, < 2.3.0
< 1.29.2
>= 2.0.0, < 2.1.1

Patched versions

2.3.0
1.29.2
2.1.1

Description

Summary

\PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html does not sanitize "javascript:" URLs from hyperlink href attributes, resulting in a Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability.

PoC

Example target script:

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$reader = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::createReader("Xlsx");
$spreadsheet = $reader->load(__DIR__ . '/book.xlsx');

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

Save this file in the same directory:
book.xlsx

Open index.php in a web browser and click on both links. The first demonstrates the vulnerability in a regular hyperlink and the second in a HYPERLINK() formula.

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

CVE ID

CVE-2024-45292

Weaknesses

Credits