# CVE-2023-48709: iTop vulnerable to potential formula injection in Excel/CSV export file

> Attackers can inject malicious formulas into CSV/Excel exports, leading to remote code execution when victims open the files in Excel.

- **Severity:** High 8.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9q3x-9987-53x9

## What is CVE-2023-48709?

CVE-2023-48709 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Combodo Itop, published on 15 Apr 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

iTop is an IT service management platform.  When exporting data from backoffice or portal in CSV or Excel files, users' inputs may include malicious formulas that may be imported into Excel. As Excel 2016 does **not** prevent Remote Code Execution by default, uninformed users may become victims. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.7.9, 3.0.4, 3.1.1, and 3.2.0.

Weakness: CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), CWE-1236 (Improper Neutralization of Formula Elements in a CSV File)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-48709?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Combodo Itop.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-48709?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-48709 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-48709 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-48709 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Combodo Itop

- [CVE-2023-48710](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-48710/): iTop limit pages/exec.php script to PHP files (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-39214](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-39214/): Authenticated users of Combodo iTop can take over any account (critical 9.6)
- [CVE-2021-41161](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41161/): XSS in csvimport in 3.0.0-beta versions (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2021-41162](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41162/): Cross-site Scripting in Combodo iTop (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2025-47773](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-47773/): Combodo iTop has XSS vulnerability in /pages/ajax.render.php (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-48709 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-48709 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Combodo Itop, published on 15 Apr 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-48709 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Combodo Itop. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-48709/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-48709/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-48709
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-48709
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-48709

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-48709/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.