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SSRF when reading and displaying a processed HTML document in the browser

High
oleibman published GHSA-rx7m-68vc-ppxh Aug 23, 2025

Package

composer phpoffice/phpspreadsheet (Composer)

Affected versions

< 1.30.0
>= 2.0.0, < 2.1.12
>= 2.2.0, < 2.4.0
>= 3.0.0, < 3.10.0
>= 4.0.0, < 5.0.0

Patched versions

1.30.0
2.1.12
2.4.0
3.10.0
5.0.0

Description

Product: PhpSpreadsheet
Version: 3.8.0
CWE-ID: CWE-918: Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
CVSS vector v.3.1: 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N)
CVSS vector v.4.0: 8.7 (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N)
Description: SSRF occurs when a processed HTML document is read and displayed in the browser
Impact: Server-Side Request Forgery
Vulnerable component: the PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Worksheet\Drawing class, setPath method
Exploitation conditions: getting a string from the user that is passed to the HTML reader
Mitigation: improved processing of the $path variable of the setPath method of the PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Worksheet\Drawing class is needed
Researcher: Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies)

Research

The researcher discovered zero-day vulnerability Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) (in the setPath method of the PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Worksheet\Drawing class) in Phpspreadsheet.
The latest version (3.8.0) of the phpoffice/phpspreadsheet library was installed. Below are the details of the installation:

Listing 1. Installing the phpoffice/phpspreadsheet library

$ composer require phpoffice/phpspreadsheet --prefer-source

The code that processes the HTML string with further rendering and displaying the result in the browser.
Listing 2. Executable file index.php using the PhpSpreadsheet library

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

$inputFileType = 'Html';
$reader = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType);  


$inputFileName = './doc/file.html';
$spreadsheet = $reader->load($inputFileName); 

$writer = new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Html($spreadsheet); 
print($writer->generateHTMLAll());

Also, the ./doc/file.html has the following content: the img tag with the src attribute, which contains the value http:// 127.0.0.1:1337

Listing 3. The ./doc/file.html file

<table>
    <tr>
        <img src="http://127.0.0.1:1337">
    </tr>
</table>

The vulnerability lies in the setPath method of the PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Worksheet\Drawing class.

Figure 1. The PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Worksheet\Drawing class, setPath method.

fig1

Figure 2 below demonstrates the SSRF vulnerability exploitation.

fig2

Figure 2. Demonstration of the SSRF vulnerability exploitation

Also, there is code on line 154 that could potentially be used by an attacker to perform unsafe deserialization via the phar archive and the file_exists method.

Figure 3. Opportunity to perform phar deserialization
fig3

Please, assign all credits to: Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies)

Credit

Aleksey Solovev (Positive Technologies)

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required None
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
Integrity None
Availability None
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVE ID

CVE-2025-54370

Weaknesses

Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

The web server receives a URL or similar request from an upstream component and retrieves the contents of this URL, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the request is being sent to the expected destination. Learn more on MITRE.