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UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2023-7101

Spreadsheet::ParseExcel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

KEVHIGH 7.8EPSS 19.1%

Does this matter?

Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 23 January 2024). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.

Description

Spreadsheet::ParseExcel version 0.65 is a Perl module used for parsing Excel files. Spreadsheet::ParseExcel is vulnerable to an arbitrary code execution (ACE) vulnerability due to passing unvalidated input from a file into a string-type “eval”. Specifically, the issue stems from the evaluation of Number format strings (not to be confused with printf-style format strings) within the Excel parsing logic.

CVSS 3.1
7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
19.11% probability · 97th percentile
CISA KEV
Listed 2 January 2024 · due 23 January 2024
Weakness
CWE-95, CWE-94
Affected
jmcnamara/spreadsheet\ · debian/debian linux · fedoraproject/fedora
Source
mandiant-cve@google.com

CISA notes

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. This vulnerability affects a common open-source component, third-party library, or a protocol used by different products. Please check with specific vendors for information on patching status. For more information, please see: https://metacpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel and Barracuda's specific implementation and fix for their downstream issue CVE-2023-7102 at https://www.barracuda.com/company/legal/esg-vulnerability; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-7101

References

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.