{"id":30656,"date":"2025-04-24T20:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T20:11:08","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-05-10T18:19:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T18:19:53","slug":"cve-2024-53924-untrusted-spreadsheet-code-execution-in-pycel-1-0b30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-53924-untrusted-spreadsheet-code-execution-in-pycel-1-0b30\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2024-53924: Untrusted Spreadsheet Code Execution in Pycel 1.0b30<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability CVE-2024-53924 is a serious security flaw in Pycel, a Python library widely used for its powerful spreadsheet manipulation capabilities. The vulnerability, which is present in versions up to and including 1.0b30, allows potential attackers to execute arbitrary code on a targeted system via a maliciously crafted formula in a spreadsheet cell. Given the widespread use of Pycel in various applications and services, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2567-a-high-risk-vulnerability-impacting-atg-monitoring-systems\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"35506\">vulnerability has a broad impact<\/a>, potentially allowing unauthorized access to sensitive information or even compromising entire systems.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2024-53924<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (CVSS 9.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-30727-unpatched-vulnerability-in-oracle-scripting-leads-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"35809\">System compromise and potential<\/a> data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1931857769\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Pycel | Up to and including 1.0b30<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4083-process-isolation-vulnerability-in-thunderbird-and-firefox-due-to-improper-handling-of-javascript-uris\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41684\">vulnerability stems from Pycel&#8217;s handling<\/a> of spreadsheet formulas. When an untrusted spreadsheet is processed by Pycel, a maliciously crafted cell formula, such as one beginning with the IF function, can trigger arbitrary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32433-unauthenticated-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-erlang-otp-ssh-server\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"36467\">code execution<\/a>. The arbitrary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29041-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-dlink-dir-832x-240802\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"36909\">code is executed<\/a> when the IF condition is met. By exploiting this flaw, an attacker could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29209-unauthenticated-arbitrary-command-execution-in-totolink-x18\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"37399\">execute any command<\/a> on the host system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3878583648\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>As a conceptual example, consider a spreadsheet containing a cell with the following formula:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">=IF(A1=200, eval(&quot;__import__(&#039;os&#039;).system(&#039;rm -rf \/&#039;)&quot;), &quot;&quot;)<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>If Pycel processes this spreadsheet and the value of cell A1 is 200, it would trigger the eval function, importing the os module and executing the &#8216;rm -rf \/&#8217; command, which deletes all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-26927-epc-ai-hub-unrestricted-file-upload-vulnerability-leading-to-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"36114\">files in the root directory of the Unix-based host system<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Impact of the Exploit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A successful exploitation of this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-22900-stack-overflow-vulnerability-in-totolink-n600r-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"35204\">vulnerability could lead to complete system compromise or potential<\/a> data leakage. An attacker could manipulate, exfiltrate, or delete data. In the worst-case scenario, the attacker could gain complete control over the system, depending on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-28237-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-worldcast-systems-ecreso-fm-dab-tv-transmitter\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"40025\">system&#8217;s privileges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users of Pycel are strongly advised to apply the vendor&#8217;s patch as soon as possible. In the interim, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used to mitigate the risk, but these are temporary measures and not a substitute for the vendor&#8217;s patch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The vulnerability CVE-2024-53924 is a serious security flaw in Pycel, a Python library widely used for its powerful spreadsheet manipulation capabilities. The vulnerability, which is present in versions up to and including 1.0b30, allows potential attackers to execute arbitrary code on a targeted system via a maliciously crafted formula in a spreadsheet cell. Given [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[80],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-30656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-rce"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30656"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36989,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30656\/revisions\/36989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30656"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=30656"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=30656"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=30656"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=30656"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=30656"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=30656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}