PhpSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Prior to 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0, the XLSX reader's ColumnAndRowAttributes::readRowAttributes() method reads row numbers from XML attributes without validating them against the spreadsheet maximum row limit (AddressRange::MAX_ROW = 1,048,576). An attacker can craft a minimal XLSX file (~1.6KB) containing a <row r="999999999"/> element that inflates cachedHighestRow to 999,999,999, causing any subsequent row iteration to attempt ~1 billion loop cycles and exhaust CPU resources. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0.

No CVSS v4.0

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required None

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact None

Integrity Impact None

Availability Impact High

User Interaction None

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

The EPSS score is 0.0004.

Exploitation poc

Automatable yes

Technical Impact partial

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor Product Default status Versions
PHPOffice PhpSpreadsheet affected
Version Status Constraints
< 1.30.4 affected —
>= 2.0.0, < 2.1.16 affected —
>= 2.2.0, < 2.4.5 affected —
>= 3.3.0, < 3.10.5 affected —
>= 4.0.0, < 5.7.0 affected —

No data.

No data.

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Advisories
Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-7c6m-4442-2x6m PhpSpreadsheet has CPU Denial of Service via Unbounded Row Number in XLSX Row Dimensions
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.

Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

References
Link Providers
https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/security/advisories/GHSA-7c6m-4442-2x6m cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
History

Wed, 13 May 2026 13:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Phpoffice
Phpoffice phpspreadsheet
Vendors & Products Phpoffice
Phpoffice phpspreadsheet

Tue, 12 May 2026 22:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description PhpSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Prior to 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0, the XLSX reader's ColumnAndRowAttributes::readRowAttributes() method reads row numbers from XML attributes without validating them against the spreadsheet maximum row limit (AddressRange::MAX_ROW = 1,048,576). An attacker can craft a minimal XLSX file (~1.6KB) containing a <row r="999999999"/> element that inflates cachedHighestRow to 999,999,999, causing any subsequent row iteration to attempt ~1 billion loop cycles and exhaust CPU resources. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.30.4, 2.1.16, 2.4.5, 3.10.5, and 5.7.0.
Title PhpSpreadsheet: CPU Denial of Service via Unbounded Row Number in XLSX Row Dimensions
Weaknesses CWE-770
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-13T12:11:34.633Z

Reserved: 2026-04-15T16:37:22.767Z

Link: CVE-2026-40902

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-05-13T12:10:47.841Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2026-05-12T22:16:33.923

Modified: 2026-05-13T18:20:16.720

Link: CVE-2026-40902

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-12T23:45:25Z

Weaknesses