Excelize: Unchecked pivot-cache field index in extractPivotTableFields causes unrecoverable panic

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 2.8.1 to 2.11.0, separately parsed pivot-table field indices are used to index the pivot-cache field-name slice without bounds checks. extractPivotTableFields uses getPivotCacheFieldsName output while processing GetPivotTables and trusts the dataField fld attribute as an index. When a crafted workbook supplies a pivot-field count mismatch or an out-of-range dataField fld value before GetPivotTables is called, the unchecked index causes a Go slice-bounds panic that escapes the library, allowing an attacker to crash the process or request worker. No fixed version is available as of this review.

Source published

7 Oct 2026 17:11:17 UTC

Source modified

7 Oct 2026 19:03:18 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

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: cve-program · CVE Program Terms of Use. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 4.0 · 8.7 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Excelize is a Go language library for reading and writing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. From 2.8.1 to 2.11.0, separately parsed pivot-table field indices are used to index the pivot-cache field-name slice without bounds checks. extractPivotTableFields uses getPivotCacheFieldsName output while processing GetPivotTables and trusts the dataField fld attribute as an index. When a crafted workbook supplies a pivot-field count mismatch or an out-of-range dataField fld value before GetPivotTables is called, the unchecked index causes a Go slice-bounds panic that escapes the library, allowing an attacker to crash the process or request worker. No fixed version is available as of this review.

Source published

Oct 7, 2026, 5:11:17 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Oct 7, 2026, 7:03:18 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

7 Nov 2026 12:38:33 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 4.0 · 8.7 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Excelize is a Go language library for reading and writing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. From 2.8.1 to 2.11.0, separately parsed pivot-table field indices are used to index the pivot-cache field-name slice without bounds checks. extractPivotTableFields uses getPivotCacheFieldsName output while processing GetPivotTables and trusts the dataField fld attribute as an index. When a crafted workbook supplies a pivot-field count mismatch or an out-of-range dataField fld value before GetPivotTables is called, the unchecked index causes a Go slice-bounds panic that escapes the library, allowing an attacker to crash the process or request worker. No fixed version is available as of this review.

Source published

7 Oct 2026 18:17:18 UTC

Source modified

13 Oct 2026 14:24:41 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 4.0 · [email protected] · Secondary · 8.7 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Primary · 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

### Summary extractPivotTableFields builds `order := pc.getPivotCacheFieldsName()` from xl/pivotCache/pivotCacheDefinitionN.xml's <cacheFields> list, then indexes it with values taken from a *separately parsed* xl/pivotTables/pivotTableN.xml part with zero cross-validation: `order[field.Fld]` where `field.Fld` is a raw attacker-controlled `int` from the `<dataField fld="N">` attribute, and `order[fieldIdx]` where fieldIdx is a loop index over `pt.PivotFields.PivotField` that need not match the cache's field count. I executed two independent PoCs against the current HEAD: (1) trimmed the pivot cache's <cacheFields> to count=0 while leaving the pivot table's 2 pivotFields untouched -> `runtime error: index out of range [0] with length 0` at pivotTable.go:1431; (2) left the 2 cache fields completely intact and only changed one attribute, `fld="1"` -> `fld="99999"`, in xl/pivotTables/pivotTable1.xml -> `runtime error: index out of range [99999] with length 2` at pivotTable.go:1443. Both stack traces confirmed via non-recovered `go test` runs: extractPivotTableFields -> getPivotTable -> GetPivotTables. ### Reachability / who can trigger this Unauthenticated: any application that opens an untrusted .xlsx containing a pivot table and calls the public `File.GetPivotTables(sheet)` API. excelize has no recover() anywhere, so this crashes the host process (CLI/worker) or surfaces as an unhandled 500 in a request-scoped-recover HTTP service. Deterministic, single small crafted file, no user interaction beyond the service's normal open-and-read flow. ### Proof of Concept / Reproduction **Method:** 1) Verified source at HEAD (commit e81f0500, 2026-09-27, freshly cloned/up to date; `git status` clean except the new PoC files I added): read pivotTable.go:1425-1454 and confirmed verbatim: `order := pc.getPivotCacheFieldsName()` (1428), loop `for fieldIdx, field := range pt.PivotFields.PivotField` indexing `order[fieldIdx]` at axisRow/axisCol/axisPage (1431/1434/1437), and `Data: order[field.Fld]` (1443) inside the `pt.DataFields.DataField` loop -- zero bounds checks anywhere. Confirmed xmlPivotTable.go:271 `Fld int `xml:"fld,attr"`` on xlsxDataField (raw attacker-controlled int, no validation) and the sibling Fld field at line 252. Ran `go build ./...` -- compiles clean. Both citations are accurate. 2) Found the repo already contained an untracked PoC test file from earlier work (pivot_fld_poc_test.go) implementing this exact finding via a byte-level zip-tamper technique (build a legitimate workbook with excelize's own public AddPivotTable API, then hex-edit one raw XML part inside the saved .xlsx's zip bytes -- not a hypothetical reimplementation, uses the real unmodified excelize package). Did not just trust it: ran it myself with `go test -run 'TestPivotTableDataFieldFldIndexPanic|TestPivotTableDataFieldFldAttributeOutOfRangePanic' -v .` and observed real PASS output with exact matching panic strings. 3) For stronger, independent evidence beyond a recover-wrapped test, I wrote my own standalone non-test Go program from scratch, cmd/pivotcrash/main.go (module github.com/xuri/excelize/v2, go1.27.0 toolchain), that imports the real compiled excelize package (no reimplementation) with two subcommands: `gen`/`gen-trim` (attacker: build a legit pivot-table workbook via the public API, then rezip with one XML part tampered -- either dataField fld="1"->fld="99999", or the pivot cache's <cacheFields count="2"> collapsed to count="0" -- writing the crafted .xlsx to disk) and `run` (victim: a fresh OS process that does exactly what any consumer service does -- `excelize.OpenFile(path)` then `f.GetPivotTables("Sheet1")` -- with zero recover() anywhere in the file or the call chain). Executed as four separate `go run` process invocations: gen, run, gen-trim, run. **Evidence:** Test run (pre-existing PoC file, re-executed by me, both PASS): `--- PASS: TestPivotTableDataFieldFldIndexPanic (0.00s)` logging `CONFIRMED: GetPivotTables panicked ... runtime error: index out of range [0] with length 0` `--- PASS: TestPivotTableDataFieldFldAttributeOutOfRangePanic (0.00s)` logging `CONFIRMED: GetPivotTables panicked ... runtime error: index out of range [99999] with length 2` `ok github.com/xuri/excelize/v2 0.114s` Standalone process-crash run #1 (`go run ./cmd/pivotcrash run pivotcrash_malicious.xlsx`, fld="99999" tamper, cache untouched with 2 fields): [victim] file opened successfully, workbook parsed with no errors [victim] now calling f.GetPivotTables("Sheet1") on the untrusted workbook... panic: runtime error: index out of range [99999] with length 2 goroutine 1 [running]: github.com/xuri/excelize/v2.(*File).extractPivotTableFields(...) .../pivotTable.go:1443 +0xb9b github.com/xuri/excelize/v2.(*File).getPivotTable(...) .../pivotTable.go:1379 +0x7f6 github.com/xuri/excelize/v2.(*File).GetPivotTables(...) .../pivotTable.go:1278 +0x2f7 main.runVictim(...) / main.main() -> exit status 2 Standalone process-crash run #2 (`go run ./cmd/pivotcrash run pivotcrash_malicious_trim.xlsx`, cacheFields trimmed to count=0, pivot table's 2 pivotFields untouched): panic: runtime error: index out of range [0] with length 0 goroutine 1 [running]: github.com/xuri/excelize/v2.(*File).extractPivotTableFields(...) .../pivotTable.go:1431 +0xc15 github.com/xuri/excelize/v2.(*File).getPivotTable(...) .../pivotTable.go:1379 +0x7f6 github.com/xuri/excelize/v2.(*File).GetPivotTables(...) .../pivotTable.go:1278 +0x2f7 main.runVictim(...) / main.main() -> exit status 2 In both standalone runs the "GetPivotTables RETURNED NORMALLY" print statement that follows the call was never reached -- the OS process itself terminated via an unrecovered Go panic (exit status 2), for a crafted .xlsx that `excelize.OpenFile` accepted without any error. Both stack traces terminate at the exact claimed sink lines (pivotTable.go:1443 and :1431) via the exact claimed call chain (extractPivotTableFields -> getPivotTable -> GetPivotTables). This is a real, unhandled crash of a real process running unmodified excelize code -- not a mock, not a simulated/hypothetical trace. ### Novelty Ran all 5 requested checks in full, plus extra verification. (1) Pulled the complete, paginated GHSA list via gh api (16 advisories, all state=published, no hidden drafts) and grepped full descriptions, not just summaries, for "pivot" -- only one incidental, non-overlapping hit (GHSA-wp2g-vpjj-g53r cites pivotTable.go:538 as an AddPivotTable call site for an unrelated formula-recursion stack-overflow bug). (2) Ran ~15 targeted GitHub issue searches (extractPivotTableFields, getPivotCacheFieldsName, GetPivotTables panic, dataField fld, BaseField, ShowValuesAs, "index out of range", cacheFields count mismatch, PivotFields panic, DataField, plus a broad "pivot" query returning 30 issues/PRs all individually triaged by title) and full-text-read the 5 most plausible (#2161, #1937, #2183, #1954, #1945) -- none match; the closest (#2161) is a nil-pointer bug in a different function/field, detailed above. (3) Checked PRs both by keyword (is:pr pivot = 10, is:pr "pivotTable.go" fld = 0, all reviewed; read PR #2168's full diff) and exhaustively (pulled all 31 currently-open PRs on the repo and reviewed every title) -- none touch pivot field indexing. (4) Ran 5 WebSearch queries combining the mechanism with "excelize"/"pivot table"/"CVE", and independently cross-checked OSV.dev's API (which mirrors NVD/GHSA/GO vuln DB) -- turned up only the already-ruled-out GHSA-fx5j (shared-string) and GHSA-h69g (row allocation) advisories, and a non-upstream automated "task"-tracking repo (windyswe/q ...[truncated for brevity] Closest prior art considered: qax-os/excelize issue #2161 + merged PR #2168 ("This closes #2161, fix panic on read unsupported pivot table cache source types", merged 2025-07-05). That bug: pivotCacheDefinition.xml's <cacheSource type="external"/> has no <worksheetSource> child, so pc.CacheSource.WorksheetSource is a nil pointer, and getPivotTable() (then pivotTable.go:875) dereferenced .Sheet/.Ref on it -> nil-pointer-dereference panic, reached via GetPivotTables (then line 803). Fix was an early type-validation error return in getPivotTable, not any bounds check. SAME-FIX TEST: would that fix also close the candidate bug? No. The candidate's panic is index-out-of-range (not nil-deref) inside a different function, extractPivotTableFields, on a different data structure: `order := pc.getPivotCacheFieldsName()` (length = count of <cacheFields>) indexed by (a) a loop counter over pt.PivotFields.PivotField (a separate, unrelated count from pivotTableN.xml) at lines 1431/1434/1437, and (b) the raw unvalidated int field. ...[truncated for brevity] ### Independent skeptical review Tried hard to kill this and it holds. Independently re-read current HEAD (e81f05008b3, fetched and diffed against origin/master to confirm it's current) rather than trusting the report: pivotTable.go:1427-1454 (extractPivotTableFields) has zero bounds checks on order[fieldIdx] (axisRow/Col/Page branches, lines 1431/1434/1437) or order[field.Fld] (line 1443) — confirmed by direct Read, matching the claim's line citations exactly. This is a genuine oversight, not a designed invariant: the very next function in the same file, extractPivotTableShowValuesAs (lines 1476, 1486) and extractPivotTableField (line 1508), DO bounds-check structurally identical order/slice indices before using them — the developers clearly know this pattern needs guarding and simply missed it in extractPivotTableFields. Confirmed xmlPivotTable.go:271 Fld is a bare unchecked `int` XML attribute, and confirmed getPivotTable/pivotCacheReader/pivotTableReader perform no count-vs-actual-length cross-validation between the independently-parsed pivotTable and pivotCache XML parts. Grepped the entire repo for recover() — zero hits outside the researcher's own test file, confirming "no recover anywhere" is accurate. Re-ran both provided PoCs myself in a throwaway test file against this exact HEAD (go test -run TestPoC_PivotCache -v): both panic exactly as claimed, with byte-identical messages — "index out of range [0] with length 0" (truncated-cache-fields PoC, line 1431) and "index out of range [99999] with lengt ...[truncated for brevity]

Source published

8 Oct 2026 17:52:17 UTC

Source modified

19 Oct 2026 21:41:17 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

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 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V4 · CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Publisher rating · HIGH

Panic via unchecked pivot-cache field index in github.com/xuri/excelize/v2

Source published

19 Oct 2026 21:08:21 UTC

Source modified

19 Oct 2026 21:31:39 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 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.