Excelize: a row whose earlier cell has a higher column reference than its last cell panics index out of range on almost every worksheet read API

CISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.

No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.

Excelize is a Go language library for reading and writing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. From 2.0.0 to 2.11.0, checkRow sizes its target cell slice from the last cell in XML document order and then re-scatters every cell by its explicit column reference. GetCellValue reaches workSheetReader and checkRow, where targetList is too short for an earlier out-of-order cell. When a crafted row places a higher-column cell before a lower-column final cell and a non-streaming worksheet API reads the sheet, the earlier cell's column index exceeds the slice length derived from the final cell, allowing an attacker to cause an unrecovered panic and terminate the process. No fixed version is available as of this review.

Source published

7 Oct 2026 18:41:46 UTC

Source modified

7 Oct 2026 19:17:06 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

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CVSS 3.1 · 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Excelize is a Go language library for reading and writing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. From 2.0.0 to 2.11.0, checkRow sizes its target cell slice from the last cell in XML document order and then re-scatters every cell by its explicit column reference. GetCellValue reaches workSheetReader and checkRow, where targetList is too short for an earlier out-of-order cell. When a crafted row places a higher-column cell before a lower-column final cell and a non-streaming worksheet API reads the sheet, the earlier cell's column index exceeds the slice length derived from the final cell, allowing an attacker to cause an unrecovered panic and terminate the process. No fixed version is available as of this review.

Source published

Oct 7, 2026, 6:41:46 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Oct 7, 2026, 7:17:06 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

9 Nov 2026 05:07:27 UTC

Source terms

ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: euvd · ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

EUVD CVSS 3.1 · 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Excelize is a Go language library for reading and writing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. From 2.0.0 to 2.11.0, checkRow sizes its target cell slice from the last cell in XML document order and then re-scatters every cell by its explicit column reference. GetCellValue reaches workSheetReader and checkRow, where targetList is too short for an earlier out-of-order cell. When a crafted row places a higher-column cell before a lower-column final cell and a non-streaming worksheet API reads the sheet, the earlier cell's column index exceeds the slice length derived from the final cell, allowing an attacker to cause an unrecovered panic and terminate the process. No fixed version is available as of this review.

Source published

7 Oct 2026 19:17:34 UTC

Source modified

13 Oct 2026 14:22:51 UTC

Observed here

25 Oct 2026 04:17:41 UTC

Source terms

NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: nvd · NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Secondary · 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

## Affected versions and vulnerable location - Confirmed at `ae2113b` (current HEAD). - Sink: `rows.go:967` `ws.SheetData.Row[rowIdx].C[colNum-1] = *colData` inside `checkRow`. - `checkRow` computes `lastCol` from the column of the last cell in document order (`rows.go:940`), allocates `targetList` of that length, then re-scatters every source cell into `C[colNum-1]`. ## Root cause The slice is sized from the last cell's column, but cells are not required to be column-sorted in the XML. A cell that appears earlier in the row but references a higher column than the last cell has `colNum-1 >= len(targetList)`, so the assignment writes out of range. `MaxColumns`/`TotalRows` do not help, every individual column is valid; the bug is the ordering assumption, not magnitude. ## Attacker model and reachability Any service that opens an untrusted spreadsheet and calls a worksheet API that goes through `workSheetReader -> checkRow` (`excelize.go:332`): `GetCellValue`, `GetCellFormula`, `CalcCellValue`, `GetMergeCells`, `SetCellValue`, and essentially every non-streaming worksheet call. (The streaming `GetRows`/`Rows()` SAX path does not trigger it.) Unauthenticated, deterministic, unrecovered panic -> process crash. ## Proof of concept (executed) Crafted `xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml` with a row whose cells are out of column order and whose earlier cell exceeds the last cell's column: ```xml <row r="1"><c r="D1"><v>4</v></c><c r="C1"><v>3</v></c></row> ``` `GetCellValue("Sheet1","A1")` (via `getCellStringFunc -> workSheetReader -> checkRow`) panicked `index out of range [3] with length 3` at `rows.go:967`. Confirming grep: ```bash rg -n "func checkRow|lastCol|Row\[rowIdx\].C\[colNum-1\]" rows.go ``` ## Suggested fix Size `targetList` from the maximum cell column in the row (not the last cell in document order), or bounds-check `colNum-1` against `len(targetList)` and grow the slice as needed before the assignment.

Source published

7 Oct 2026 20:23:08 UTC

Source modified

5 Nov 2026 23:26:01 UTC

Observed here

5 Nov 2026 23:38:32 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Publisher rating · MODERATE

Panic on out-of-order cell column references when reading worksheets in github.com/xuri/excelize

Source published

5 Nov 2026 22:53:46 UTC

Source modified

5 Nov 2026 23:15:11 UTC

Observed here

5 Nov 2026 23:38:32 UTC

Source terms

OSV · upstream source license applies

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · OSV · upstream source license applies. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.