CVE-2026-59933

PhpSpreadsheet: XLS/OLE sector-chain self-loop causes memory exhaustion

State
Published
Severity
7.5 High
Published
Jul 28, 2026
Updated
Jul 28, 2026
Reserved
Jul 7, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

PhpSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. In versions 4.0.0 through 5.8.0, 3.3.0 through 3.10.6, 2.2.0 through 2.4.6, 2.0.0 through 2.1.17, and all releases up to and including 1.30.5, the OLE reader follows sector chains from attacker-controlled XLS/OLE metadata without detecting cycles or enforcing a maximum chain length. A tiny malformed .xls/OLE file can set the small-block depot sector chain to point back to itself. During normal XLS detection, OLERead::read() appends the same sector data repeatedly until the PHP process exhausts memory. This is reachable from Reader\Xls::canRead() and therefore from automatic spreadsheet type detection. Applications that accept attacker-controlled spreadsheet uploads can suffer denial of service from a very small file. This issue has been fixed in versions 5.8.1, 3.10.7, 2.4.7, 2.1.18 and 1.30.6.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.17.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HGitHub_M

Weaknesses

  • CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
  • CWE-835 Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')

Affected Products

ProductVersions
PhpSpreadsheetPHPOffice
  • >= 4.0.0, < 5.8.1Affected
  • >= 3.3.0, < 3.10.7Affected
  • >= 2.2.0, < 2.4.7Affected
  • >= 2.0.0, < 2.1.18Affected
  • < 1.30.6Affected

References

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