Vulnerability in catdoc

[ Why it matters ]Priority signals

• Public proof-of-concept exploit exists (CISA SSVC)

[ Description ]Official description

catdoc through 0.95 contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the MULRK record handler of process_item() in src/xlsparse.c that allows attackers to read past the static rec buffer via a crafted end column. Attackers can supply a crafted .xls workbook or BIFF stream with a large endcol to xls2csv to disclose adjacent process memory as CSV cells or crash the process.

[ Fixes ]Fixes and patches

No fix or interim patch is linked from our sources yet. Check the vendor references below and limit exposure of affected systems until a fix is available.

[ References ]References

• github.com/vbwagner/catdoc
• github.com/vbwagner/catdoc/blob/38a2807d22ce1a08bc39b94e9072a9f8f52cd86f/src/xlsparse.c
• hackmd.io/@haind-pwn/catdoc-xls-mulrk-endcol-and-string-count-oob-read
• www.vulncheck.com/advisories/catdoc-through-0.95-out-of-bounds-read-in-xls2csv-mulrk-re…