{"id":"CVE-2024-56411","aliases":["GHSA-hwcp-2h35-p66w"],"url":"https://o3.security/vulnerability/CVE-2024-56411","summary":"PhpSpreadsheet has Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability of the hyperlink base in the HTML page header","details":"# Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability of the hyperlink base in the HTML page header\n\n**Product**: Phpspreadsheet\n**Version**: version 3.6.0\n**CWE-ID**: CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')\n**CVSS vector v.3.1**: 5.4 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N)\n**CVSS vector v.4.0**: 4.8 (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:A/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N)\n**Description**: the HTML page is formed without sanitizing the hyperlink base\n**Impact**: executing arbitrary JavaScript code in the browser\n**Vulnerable component**: class `PhpOffice\\PhpSpreadsheet\\Writer\\Html`, method `generateHTMLHeader`\n**Exploitation conditions**: a user viewing a specially generated Excel file\n**Mitigation**: additional sanitization of special characters in a string\n**Researcher**: Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies)\n\n# Research\n\nThe researcher discovered zero-day vulnerability Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability of the hyperlink base in the HTML page header in Phpspreadsheet.\nThe following code is written on the server, which translates the XLSX file into a HTML representation and displays it in the response.\n\n*Listing 8. Source code on the server*\n\n```\n<?php\n\nrequire __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';\n\n$inputFileName = './doc/Book1.xlsx';\n$spreadsheet = \\PhpOffice\\PhpSpreadsheet\\IOFactory::load($inputFileName);\n$writer = new \\PhpOffice\\PhpSpreadsheet\\Writer\\Html($spreadsheet);\nprint($writer->generateHTMLAll());\n```\n\nAn attacker can embed a payload in a file property that will result in the execution of arbitrary JavaScript code.\nThe Excel file is unpacked and a HyperlinkBase in the file is inserted into the `docProps/app.xml` file.\n\n![fig14](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f68ef7fc-e78e-4424-8753-4318b6ff51c3)\n\n*Figure 14. Embedding the payload* \n\nAfter the changes were made, a new archive with the xlsx extension was created. At the moment of converting the xlsx file into the HTML representation, a property is obtained that participates in the formation of a string without sanitization.\n\n![fig15](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0aa7398c-ddd9-4c5a-ab04-41af0236dcba)\n\n*Figure 15. Generating the HTML page header using the HyperlinkBase property* \n\nAfter generating and displaying the HTML representation of the XLSX file, arbitrary JavaScript code will be executed.\n<img width=\"356\" alt=\"fig16\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c3694661-31e3-4be8-9a86-6eb4dd4647b5\" />\n\n*Figure 16. Executing arbitrary JavaScript code* \n\n# Credit\nThis vulnerability was discovered by **Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies)**","published":"2025-01-03T17:19:00.339Z","modified":"2026-08-12T03:51:09.033191208Z","cvss":null,"epss":{"score":0.00359,"percentile":0.29171,"asOf":"2026-08-23"},"cisaKev":null,"exploitsKnown":0,"affectedPackages":[{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"phpoffice/phpspreadsheet","fixedVersion":"3.7.0"},{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"phpoffice/phpspreadsheet","fixedVersion":"1.29.7"},{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"phpoffice/phpspreadsheet","fixedVersion":"2.1.6"},{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"phpoffice/phpspreadsheet","fixedVersion":"2.3.5"},{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"phpoffice/phpexcel","fixedVersion":null}],"fix":{"url":"https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/commit/45052f88e04c735d56457a8ffcdc40b2635a028e","label":"PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet@45052f8"},"references":[{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2024/56xxx/CVE-2024-56411.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/security/advisories/GHSA-hwcp-2h35-p66w"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-56411"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/commit/45052f88e04c735d56457a8ffcdc40b2635a028e"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet"}],"provenance":{"sources":["OSV.dev","FIRST.org (EPSS)"],"lastVerified":"2026-08-12T03:51:09.033191208Z"}}