CVE-2026-40902

Published May 12, 2026

Last updated 10 days ago

CVSS high 7.5

Overview

Description
PhpSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Prior to 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0, the XLSX reader's ColumnAndRowAttributes::readRowAttributes() method reads row numbers from XML attributes without validating them against the spreadsheet maximum row limit (AddressRange::MAX_ROW = 1,048,576). An attacker can craft a minimal XLSX file (~1.6KB) containing a <row r="999999999"/> element that inflates cachedHighestRow to 999,999,999, causing any subsequent row iteration to attempt ~1 billion loop cycles and exhaust CPU resources. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0.
Source
security-advisories@github.com
NVD status
Analyzed
Products
phpspreadsheet

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Secondary
Base score
7.5
Impact score
3.6
Exploitability score
3.9
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Severity
HIGH

Weaknesses

security-advisories@github.com
CWE-770

Social media

Hype score
Not currently trending

Configurations

Related CVEs

  1. PhpSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Prior to 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0, the SpreadsheetML XML reader (Reader\Xml) does not validate the ss:Index row attribute against the maximum allowed row count (AddressRange::MAX_ROW = 1,048,576). An attacker can craft a SpreadsheetML XML file with ss:Index="999999999" on a <Row> element, which inflates the internal cachedHighestRow to ~1 billion. Any subsequent call to getRowIterator() without an explicit end row will attempt to iterate ~1 billion rows, causing CPU exhaustion and denial of service. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0.•CVE-2026-40863
  2. PhpSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. The HTML writer skips htmlspecialchars escaping when a cell's formatted value differs from the original value. When a cell has a custom number format containing the text placeholder @ along with any additional literal characters (for example ". @", "@ ", or "x@"), the formatter replaces @ with the cell value and adds the extra characters, causing the formatted value to differ from the original and bypassing HTML escaping entirely. An attacker who can control the cell value and number format of an uploaded spreadsheet that is later converted to HTML and displayed to other users can achieve stored cross-site scripting. This issue is fixed in versions 5.7.0, 3.10.5, 2.4.5, 2.1.16, and 1.30.4.•CVE-2026-40296
  3. PhpSpreadsheet is a library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. In versions 1.30.3 and earlier, 2.0.0 through 2.1.15, 2.2.0 through 2.4.4, 3.3.0 through 3.10.4, and 4.0.0 through 5.6.0, the HTML Writer skips htmlspecialchars() output escaping when a cell uses a custom number format containing the @ text placeholder with additional literal text (e.g., @ "items"). The escaping is only applied when the formatted output strictly equals the original cell value. When the format code contains @ with quoted literal text, the formatter substitutes the raw cell value into the format string and returns early without invoking the escaping callback. An attacker who can control cell content in a spreadsheet processed by the HTML Writer can inject arbitrary HTML and JavaScript into the generated output. This issue has been fixed in versions 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0.•CVE-2026-35453
  4. PhpSpreadsheet is a library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. In versions 1.30.2 and earlier, 2.0.0 through 2.1.14, 2.2.0 through 2.4.3, 3.3.0 through 3.10.3, and 4.0.0 through 5.5.0, when the filename argument to IOFactory::load() is user-controlled, an attacker can supply a PHP stream wrapper path (such as phar://, ftp://, or ssh2.sftp://) that passes the is_file() check in File::assertFile(). The phar:// wrapper triggers deserialization of the PHAR metadata, which can lead to remote code execution if a suitable gadget chain is available in the application. The ftp:// and ssh2.sftp:// wrappers can be used for server-side request forgery. This issue has been fixed in versions 1.30.3, 2.1.15, 2.4.4, 3.10.4, and 5.6.0.•CVE-2026-34084
  5. PhpSpreadsheet is a PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the code which translates the XLSX file into a HTML representation and displays it in the response.•CVE-2025-22131

References

Sources include official advisories and independent security research.