CVE-2026-40296CWE-79

PhpSpreadsheet vulnerable to XSS in HTML writer via custom number format codes

Medium · published May 6, 2026

CVSS v3.1
5.4
EPSS
0%
Percentile
15.0
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

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.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
5.4 · MEDIUM
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00246 · 15.0th percentile
Weakness
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Published
2026-05-06T20:48Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 06 MAY 20:48Z
    PhpSpreadsheet vulnerable to XSS in HTML writer via custom number format codes
    cvelistv5