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🐍 PyPI
Not in CISA KEV
HIGH severity

CVE-2017-5992 — openpyxl

HIGH

CVE-2017-5992 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.2) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in openpyxl. A fix is available for openpyxl — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference in Openpyxl

Also known asGHSA-chqf-hx79-gxc6PYSEC-2017-48
Published
Updated
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Nov 1, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
1.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk+0.25%
Lower risk than most CVEs73th percentile — riskier than 73% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.03%0.66%1.28%1.91%0.5%1.4%May 26Aug 26Nov 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
🐍openpyxl

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Openpyxl 2.4.1 resolves external entities by default, which allows remote attackers to conduct XXE attacks via a crafted .xlsx document.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐍PyPIopenpyxlall versions2.4.2pip install --upgrade 'openpyxl==2.4.2'

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations
Application
openpyxlpython
1 version
2.4.1

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openpyxl, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update openpyxl to 2.4.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-5992 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

UbuntuHIGH
USN-4821-1Ubuntu

Frequently Asked Questions

Openpyxl 2.4.1 resolves external entities by default, which allows remote attackers to conduct XXE attacks via a crafted .xlsx document.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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CVE-2017-5992: openpyxl XXE — Fixed in 2.4.2