CVE-2024-45293 — phpoffice/phpspreadsheet
HIGHCVE-2024-45293 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in phpoffice/phpspreadsheet. A fix is available for phpoffice/phpspreadsheet — see the affected versions and patch details below.
XML External Entity Reference (XXE) in PHPSpreadsheet's XLSX reader
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-45293.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2024-45293 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,238 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
phpoffice/phpspreadsheet🐘phpoffice/phpspreadsheet🐘phpoffice/phpspreadsheet🐘phpoffice/phpexcelReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
PHPSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. The security scanner responsible for preventing XXE attacks in the XLSX reader can be bypassed by slightly modifying the XML structure, utilizing white-spaces. On servers that allow users to upload their own Excel (XLSX) sheets, Server files and sensitive information can be disclosed by providing a crafted sheet. The security scan function in src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Security/XmlScanner.php contains a flawed XML encoding check to retrieve the input file's XML encoding in the toUtf8 function. The function searches for the XML encoding through a defined regex which looks for encoding="*" and/or encoding='*', if not found, it defaults to the UTF-8 encoding which bypasses the conversion logic. This logic can be used to pass a UTF-7 encoded XXE payload, by utilizing a whitespace before or after the = in the attribute definition. Sensitive information disclosure through the XXE on sites that allow users to upload their own excel spreadsheets, and parse them using PHPSpreadsheet's Excel parser. This issue has been addressed in release versions 1.29.1, 2.1.1, and 2.3.0. All users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpoffice/phpspreadsheet | ≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.3.0 | 2.3.0composer require phpoffice/phpspreadsheet:^2.3.0 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpoffice/phpspreadsheet | all versions | 1.29.1composer require phpoffice/phpspreadsheet:^1.29.1 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpoffice/phpspreadsheet | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.1.1 | 2.1.1composer require phpoffice/phpspreadsheet:^2.1.1 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpoffice/phpexcel | all versions | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpoffice/phpspreadsheet, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update phpoffice/phpspreadsheet to 2.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-45293 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2024-45293 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-45293. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
How to detect CVE-2024-45293
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2024-45293 -u https://target- Template
- TablePress < 2.4.3 - XXE Injection
- Severity
- high
- Impact
- Successful exploitation could allow an attacker to read sensitive files on the server.
- Remediation
- Upgrade TablePress to version 2.4.3 or later to mitigate the vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (iamnoooob, ritikchaddha), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-45293 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-45293 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.