CVE-2024-48877
📋 TL;DR
A heap buffer overflow vulnerability in xls2csv utility version 0.95 allows memory corruption when processing specially crafted Excel files. Attackers can exploit this by providing malicious files, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution. Users and systems that process untrusted Excel files with xls2csv are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- xls2csv
📦 What is this software?
Xls2csv by Wagner
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution with the privileges of the xls2csv process, potentially leading to full system compromise.
Likely Case
Application crash (denial of service) or limited memory corruption leading to unstable behavior.
If Mitigated
Contained crash with no privilege escalation if proper sandboxing and least privilege are implemented.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires the victim to process a malicious Excel file. No public exploit code is known as of the advisory date.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Check Debian security updates or upstream fixes (version not specified in references)
Vendor Advisory: https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/06/msg00032.html
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update xls2csv via your package manager (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get upgrade xls2csv). 2. If compiled from source, check for upstream patches and recompile.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable or remove xls2csv
linuxUninstall or disable the xls2csv utility if not needed.
sudo apt-get remove xls2csv
Restrict file processing
allLimit xls2csv usage to trusted sources only via access controls.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation: only allow known-good Excel files from trusted sources.
- Run xls2csv in a sandboxed environment with minimal privileges to limit impact.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check xls2csv version: run 'xls2csv --version' or 'dpkg -l | grep xls2csv' and verify if version is 0.95.Check Version:
xls2csv --version 2>&1 | head -1Verify Fix Applied:
After update, confirm version is no longer 0.95 using the same commands and test with safe Excel files.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes or abnormal termination of xls2csv processes
- System logs showing memory access violations
Network Indicators:
- Unusual file uploads to services using xls2csv
SIEM Query:
process_name:"xls2csv" AND (event_type:"crash" OR exit_code:139)