VulnerabilityPublished 19 Feb 2026Updated 24 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-2703: xlnt · Off-by-One

Affects xlntSource CVE Database V5

Public exploit available · CVSS 4.8 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

4.8Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 14% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

Base metrics

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Threat metrics

Exploit Maturity: POC

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable system is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or through terminal emulation (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., using social engineering techniques to trick a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker requires privileges that provide basic capabilities that are typically limited to settings and resources owned by a single low-privileged user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges has the ability to access only non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Exploit Maturity: POC: Based on threat intelligence sources each of the following must apply: · Proof-of-concept is publicly available · No knowledge of reported attempts to exploit this vulnerability · No knowledge of publicly available solutions used to simplify attempts to exploit the vulnerability

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 19 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: evidence found.
CVSS exploit maturity: proof of concept public
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), CVSS vector, the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
xlnt-communityxlnt	Affected =1.6.0 =1.6.1	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-2703, organizations should immediately update the xlnt library to a version later than 1.6.1 that includes the patch identified by commit f2d7bf494e5c52706843cf7eb9892821bffb0734. If updating is not immediately possible, restrict local access to systems running vulnerable versions by enforcing strict user permissions and limiting untrusted user accounts. Implement application whitelisting and monitor for unusual application crashes or memory errors related to XLSX file processing. Conduct code reviews and testing of any custom software integrating xlnt to detect anomalous behavior when handling encrypted XLSX files. Additionally, educate users about the risks of running untrusted XLSX files locally and employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to detect exploitation attempts. Finally, maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from potential denial-of-service or stability issues caused by exploitation.

Description

A weakness has been identified in xlnt-community xlnt up to 1.6.1. Impacted is the function xlnt::detail::decode_base64 of the file source/detail/cryptography/base64.cpp of the component Encrypted XLSX File Parser. Executing a manipulation can lead to off-by-one. The attack requires local access. The exploit has been made available to the public and could be used for attacks. This patch is called f2d7bf494e5c52706843cf7eb9892821bffb0734. Applying a patch is advised to resolve this issue.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-2703 is potential memory corruption due to an off-by-one error in base64 decoding within the xlnt library. For organizations, this could lead to application crashes or instability in software that processes encrypted XLSX files using xlnt versions 1.6.0 or 1.6.1. While the vulnerability does not directly compromise confidentiality or integrity, denial of service or unexpected behavior could disrupt business operations, especially in environments heavily reliant on automated XLSX file processing. Since exploitation requires local access with low privileges, the threat is more significant in multi-user systems or environments where attackers can gain initial foothold. The availability of a public exploit increases the likelihood of exploitation attempts. Organizations using xlnt in desktop applications, server-side XLSX processing, or embedded systems should consider this vulnerability a moderate risk that could affect system reliability and user trust.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Feb 2026, 13:05 UTC

Technical details

References

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