CVE-2026-40296
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…
Does this matter?
Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.22%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.
Description
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.
- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
- EPSS
- 0.22% probability · 13th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-79
- Affected
- phpoffice/phpspreadsheet
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
EPSS 0.2% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/security/advisories/GHSA-hrmw-qprp-wgmcExploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/security/advisories/GHSA-hrmw-qprp-wgmcExploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.