CVE-2018-14065: PHPOffice Common Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference
Summary
CVE-2018-14065: PHPOffice Common Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference. Affects phpoffice/common versions < 0.2.9. Fixed in 0.2.9. How to fix ↓
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Background
PHPOffice Common is a package available on Packagist that provides a set of common classes and methods used by various PHP Office projects. It is designed to simplify the development of PHP Office applications by providing a consistent and easy-to-use API. The package is widely used in the PHP community for creating and manipulating office documents. However, a vulnerability has been discovered in the XMLReader.php file of PHPOffice Common before version 0.2.9, which allows for XML External Entity (XXE) attacks.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability (CVE-2018-14065) in PHPOffice Common arises from improper restriction of XML External Entity references in the XMLReader.php file. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by crafting a specially crafted XML document that includes external entity references. When the vulnerable code parses the XML document, it resolves the external entity references, leading to potential information disclosure, server-side request forgery (SSRF), and denial of service (DoS) attacks. The severity of this vulnerability is rated as CRITICAL with a CVSS score of 9.8.
How To Fix
Minimum fixed version
0.2.9
This is the first release that contains the fix.
composer require phpoffice/common:0.2.9Tip — Not sure which version your app runs? Vulert can match this fix to it. Scan free →
Workaround
As a temporary workaround, developers can disable the use of external entities in the XMLReader.php file. This can be achieved by modifying the code to set the LIBXML_NOENT flag when creating the XMLReader object. Here is an example of how to implement this workaround:
$reader = new XMLReader();
$reader->open('file.xml', null, LIBXML_NOENT);
However, it is strongly recommended to apply the official fix by upgrading to the latest version of the PHPOffice Common package.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the PHPOffice Common package before version 0.2.9 is vulnerable to an improper restriction of XML External Entity references. This vulnerability can be exploited to perform XXE attacks, potentially leading to information disclosure, SSRF, and DoS attacks. It is crucial to upgrade to the latest version of the package and validate XML input to mitigate this vulnerability. For further support on vulnerability remediation, please contact DevNack.com.
See every vulnerability recorded for phpoffice/common →
FAQ
PHPOffice Common is a package available on Packagist that provides a set of common classes and methods used by various PHP Office projects. It simplifies the development of PHP Office applications by offering a consistent and easy-to-use API.
The vulnerability (CVE-2018-14065) in PHPOffice Common is an improper restriction of XML External Entity references in the XMLReader.php file. It allows for XML External Entity (XXE) attacks.
The vulnerability can lead to information disclosure, server-side request forgery (SSRF), and denial of service (DoS) attacks.
The severity of this vulnerability is rated as CRITICAL with a CVSS score of 9.8.
To fix this vulnerability, it is recommended to upgrade the PHPOffice Common package to version 0.2.9 or later. Additionally, developers should review and validate any XML input to ensure it does not contain malicious external entity references.
