Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-45291

MediumPublic PoC

Published: 07 October 2024

Published
07 October 2024
Modified
16 October 2024
KEV Added
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Patch
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CVSS Score v3.1 6.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0089 76.0th percentile
Risk Priority 13 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2024-45291 is a medium-severity Absolute Path Traversal (CWE-36) vulnerability in Phpoffice Phpspreadsheet. Its CVSS base score is 6.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked in the top 24.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; 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. It's possible for an attacker to construct an XLSX file that links images from arbitrary paths. When embedding images has been enabled in HTML writer with `$writer->setEmbedImages(true);` those…

more

files will be included in the output as `data:` URLs, regardless of the file's type. Also URLs can be used for embedding, resulting in a Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerability. When embedding images has been enabled, an attacker can read arbitrary files on the server and perform arbitrary HTTP GET requests. Note that any PHP protocol wrappers can be used, meaning that if for example the `expect://` wrapper is enabled, also remote code execution is possible. This issue has been addressed in release versions 1.29.2, 2.1.1, and 2.3.0. All users are advised to upgrade. there are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

CWE(s)
CWE-36CWE-918CWE-22

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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1046 Network Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of services running on remote hosts and local network infrastructure devices, including those that may be vulnerable to remote software exploitation.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

Path traversal enables arbitrary local file reads (T1005); SSRF via arbitrary URLs enables internal network service discovery (T1046); crafted XLSX files exploit PHPSpreadsheet in public-facing web apps (T1190).

Affected Assets

phpoffice
phpspreadsheet
≤ 1.29.2 · 2.0.0 — 2.1.1 · 2.2.0 — 2.3.0

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.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-22 CWE-918

Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.

CA-8 Penetration Testing
addresses: CWE-918

Penetration testing attempts server-side requests to internal resources, identifying SSRF weaknesses for remediation.

SC-7 Boundary Protection
addresses: CWE-918

Outbound connections to external resources can be monitored and limited at the boundary, reducing SSRF impact.

SI-4 System Monitoring
addresses: CWE-918

Detects server-side request forgery through monitoring of unexpected outbound connections.

References