Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in generateNavigation() function in PhpSpreadsheet
Summary
The researcher discovered zero-day vulnerability Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the code which translates the XLSX file into a HTML representation and displays it in the response.
Details
When generating the HTML from an xlsx file containing multiple sheets, a navigation menu is created. This menu includes the sheet names, which are not sanitized. As a result, an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to execute JavaScript code.
// Construct HTML
$html = '';
// Only if there are more than 1 sheets
if (count($sheets) > 1) {
// Loop all sheets
$sheetId = 0;
$html .= '<ul class="navigation">' . PHP_EOL;
foreach ($sheets as $sheet) {
$html .= ' <li class="sheet' . $sheetId . '"><a href="#sheet' . $sheetId . '">' . $sheet->getTitle() . '</a></li>' . PHP_EOL;
++$sheetId;
}
$html .= '</ul>' . PHP_EOL;
}PoC
-
Create an XLSX file with multiple sheets :
-
Generate the HTML content
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
$inputFileName = 'payload.xlsx';
$spreadsheet = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::load($inputFileName);
$writer = new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html($spreadsheet);
$writer->writeAllSheets();
echo $writer->generateHTMLAll();
?>- Enjoy
Impact
XSS can cause a variety of problems for the end user that range in severity from an annoyance to complete account compromise. Example of impacts :
- Disclosure of the user’s session cookie, allowing an attacker to hijack the user’s session and take over the account (Only if HttpOnly cookie's flag is set to false).
- Redirecting the user to some other page or site (like phishing websites)
- Modifying the content of the current page (add a fake login page that sends credentials to the attacker).
- Automatically download malicious files.
- Requests access to the victim geolocation / camera.
- ...
Software afectado
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| Plataforma | Paquete | Versiones vulnerables | Corregida en |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paquete de Composer | phpoffice/phpexcel | <= 1.8.2 | sin corrección |
| Paquete de Composer | phpoffice/phpspreadsheet | >= 3.0.0, < 3.8.0, < 1.29.8, >= 2.0.0, < 2.1.7, >= 2.2.0, < 2.3.6 | 3.8.0, 1.29.8, 2.1.7, 2.3.6 |
Referencias
- Vector CVSS
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N- Debilidad (CWE)
CWE-79- Plataforma
- Composer
- Paquete
phpoffice/phpexcel, phpoffice/phpspreadsheet- Publicada
- 21.01.2025
- Actualizado
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Fuentes y licencias
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-79xx-vf93-p7cx - CC BY 4.0
Historial de vulnerabilidades: phpoffice/phpexcel
Todas las vulnerabilidades publicadas de este paquete (Paquete de Composer), de la más reciente a la más antigua. Muestra si es un fallo aislado o un paquete que hay que vigilar.
- Entradas en total
- 23
- Primera → última
- 11.2019 02.2025
- Sin corrección
- 20
- Explotada en ataques
- 0
Distribución por gravedad
- Alta 12
- Media 10
- Baja 1
Divulgaciones por año
- 2019: 2
- 2020: 0
- 2021: 1
- 2022: 1
- 2023: 0
- 2024: 10
- 2025: 9
- 2026: 0
-
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in generateNavigation() function in PhpSpreadsheet esta entrada
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