GHSA-fx5j-qcqg-grpf
Excelize: Negative shared-string index causes panic in GetCellValue and GetRows
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/xuri/excelize/v2 | < 2.11.0 | 2.11.0 |
| Go | github.com/xuri/excelize | <= 1.4.0 | no fix listed |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
# Negative shared-string index causes panic in GetCellValue and GetRows
## Summary
Excelize parses shared-string cell values with `strconv.Atoi` and checks only the upper bound before indexing the shared string slice. If an XLSX file contains a shared-string cell with `<v>-1</v>`, the parsed index is negative. The upper-bound check still passes (`len(sharedStrings) > -1`), and Excelize indexes `sharedStrings[-1]`, causing a runtime panic.
This was reproduced on the current default branch commit `1213a8bd7c5ab360554603ac5c995ccaf6eb4314` and the latest release tag `v2.10.1` (`5ad5ab3af0054c55bdce09f1530085600e9f2e45`). The issue is independent from the row-bound allocation report, so I am reporting it separately.
## Affected package
- Package: `github.com/xuri/excelize/v2`
- Tested affected versions: current default branch at `1213a8bd7c5ab360554603ac5c995ccaf6eb4314`, and release `v2.10.1`
- Fixed version: none known at the time of this report
## Impact
An attacker who can provide an XLSX file to an application using Excelize can trigger a process panic when the application reads the malicious cell through common APIs such as `GetCellValue` or `GetRows`. In services that parse untrusted spreadsheets without a panic recovery boundary, this can cause denial of service.
## Root cause
For shared-string cells (`t="s"`), `xlsxC.getValueFrom()` parses the cell value as a shared-string index and only checks whether the index is below `len(d.SI)` before indexing:
```go
xlsxSI, _ := strconv.Atoi(strings.TrimSpace(c.V))
if len(d.SI) > xlsxSI {
return d.SI[xlsxSI].String(), nil
}
```
For `xlsxSI == -1`, `len(d.SI) > -1` is true, so the code proceeds to index `d.SI[-1]` and panics.
## Minimal worksheet payload
```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<worksheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main">
<sheetData>
<row r="1"><c r="A1" t="s"><v>-1</v></c></row>
</sheetData>
</worksheet>
```
The workbook also contains a normal `sharedStrings.xml` with one string (`ok`), so the failure is specifically due to accepting a negative index.
## Reproduction
Calling `GetCellValue("Sheet1", "A1")` on the workbook panics:
```text
== negative shared string GetCellValue ==
elapsed=0s alloc_delta=0MB
PANIC: runtime.boundsError runtime error: index out of range [-1]
```
Calling `GetRows("Sheet1")` on the same workbook also panics:
```text
== negative shared string GetRows ==
elapsed=0s alloc_delta=0MB
PANIC: runtime.boundsError runtime error: index out of range [-1]
```
The same results were observed on current default branch commit `1213a8bd7c5ab360554603ac5c995ccaf6eb4314` and on release `v2.10.1`.
## Expected behavior
Malformed shared-string indices should be rejected or treated as missing/invalid string references without panicking.
## Suggested remediation
Check both lower and upper bounds before indexing the shared string table. For example:
```go
if xlsxSI >= 0 && xlsxSI < len(d.SI) {
return d.SI[xlsxSI].String(), nil
}
```
Add regression tests for `GetCellValue()` and `GetRows()` on `t="s"` cells whose `<v>` value is negative.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.
- https://github.com/qax-os/excelize/security/advisories/GHSA-fx5j-qcqg-grpf
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-59162
- https://github.com/qax-os/excelize/pull/2331
- https://github.com/qax-os/excelize/commit/93f0b3caed37f21ef5079e3259c6c21dcfe68453
- https://github.com/qax-os/excelize
- https://github.com/qax-os/excelize/releases/tag/v2.11.0