| Name | CVE-2026-26825 |
| Description | A use-of-uninitialized memory vulnerability exists in libxls 1.6.3 when parsing malformed XLS files. The issue is reachable via xls_parseWorkBook() and is triggered by uninitialized heap memory originating from the OLE layer (ole2_read). The flaw is detectable with MemorySanitizer (MSAN) and can lead to undefined behavior, incorrect parsing logic, or potential information disclosure. |
| Source | CVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more) |
| Debian Bugs | 1139808 |
Vulnerable and fixed packages
The table below lists information on source packages.
| Source Package | Release | Version | Status |
|---|
| r-cran-readxl (PTS) | bullseye | 1.3.1-2 | vulnerable |
| bookworm | 1.4.2-1 | vulnerable |
| trixie | 1.4.5-1 | vulnerable |
| forky, sid | 1.5.0-1 | vulnerable |
The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.
| Package | Type | Release | Fixed Version | Urgency | Origin | Debian Bugs |
|---|
| r-cran-readxl | source | (unstable) | (unfixed) | | | 1139808 |
Notes
[trixie] - r-cran-readxl <no-dsa> (Minor issue)
[bookworm] - r-cran-readxl <postponed> (Minor issue; uninitialized heap from the bundled libxls OLE layer reaches xls_parseWorkBook(), only via an attacker-supplied .xls; unfixed upstream)
[bullseye] - r-cran-readxl <postponed> (Minor issue; uninitialized heap from the bundled libxls OLE layer reaches xls_parseWorkBook(), only via an attacker-supplied .xls; unfixed upstream)
https://github.com/libxls/libxls/issues/156