Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-45048

HighPublic PoC

Published: 28 August 2024

Published
28 August 2024
Modified
04 September 2024
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0015 36.0th percentile
Risk Priority 18 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2024-45048 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (CWE-611) vulnerability in Phpoffice Phpspreadsheet. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 36.0th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

PHPSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Affected versions are subject to a bypassing of a filter which allows for an XXE-attack. This in turn allows attacker to obtain contents of local files, even if…

more

error reporting is muted. This vulnerability has been addressed in release version 2.2.1. All users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
Why these techniques?

The XXE vulnerability (CWE-611) in PHPSpreadsheet allows bypassing the encoding filter to process malicious XML in XLSX files (e.g., sharedStrings.xml), enabling attackers to read arbitrary local files via external entities and php:// wrappers (LFI), even with muted error reporting.

Affected Assets

phpoffice
phpspreadsheet
≤ 1.29.1 · 2.0.0 — 2.2.1

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-611

Penetration testing includes XML external entity payloads, detecting XXE vulnerabilities and enabling their mitigation.

addresses: CWE-611

Identifies XML external entity processing via monitoring of unusual file/network access or resource usage.

References