How severe is CVE-2024-47873?

CVE-2024-47873 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2024-47873?

CVE-2024-47873 affects the following packages: phpoffice/phpspreadsheet (Packagist), phpoffice/phpspreadsheet (Packagist), phpoffice/phpspreadsheet (Packagist), phpoffice/phpspreadsheet (Packagist), phpoffice/phpexcel (Packagist). Ecosystems affected: Packagist.

How do I fix CVE-2024-47873?

Update phpoffice/phpspreadsheet to 1.29.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-47873 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2024-47873 in my Packagist dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpoffice/phpspreadsheet. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2024-47873 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against CVE-2024-47873?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2024-47873 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2024-47873 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2024-47873 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2024-47873?

CVE-2024-47873 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.8%, placing it in the 50th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

When was CVE-2024-47873 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2024-47873 was published on November 18, 2024 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐘 Packagist

CVE-2024-47873

HIGH

PhpSpreadsheet XmlScanner bypass leads to XXE

Also known asGHSA-jw4x-v69f-hh5w

Published

Nov 18, 2024

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

5 pkgs

Patched

4 / 5

Exploits

None indexed

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk50th percentile+0.59%

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.

Blast Radius

5 pkgs affected

🐘phpoffice/phpspreadsheet🐘phpoffice/phpspreadsheet🐘phpoffice/phpspreadsheet🐘phpoffice/phpspreadsheet🐘phpoffice/phpexcel

Real-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 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.

Affected Packages

5 total 4 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpspreadsheet`	all versions	1.29.4
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpspreadsheet`	≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.1.3	2.1.3
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpspreadsheet`	≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.3.2	2.3.2
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpspreadsheet`	≥ 3.3.0&&< 3.4.0	3.4.0
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpexcel`	all versions	No fix

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpoffice/phpspreadsheet. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update phpoffice/phpspreadsheet to 1.29.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-47873 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2024-47873 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2024-47873. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2024-47873 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2024-47873 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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