A newly discovered security vulnerability, tagged as CVE-2025-22978, affects eladmin version 2.7 and earlier. This newly discovered flaw opens up dangerous CSV Injection opportunities for attackers in the exception log download module. This vulnerability has quickly gained attention in the cybersecurity community due to its potential impact on applications that use eladmin. In this blog post, we'll take a deep dive into the details of this vulnerability, including exploitable code snippets and links to the relevant resources you need to fully understand the scope of CVE-2025-22978.

What is eladmin?

eladmin is a widely used Java-based administration system. It is an open-source project, which is popularly used as a backend framework for web applications. Exception log download module is a part of the eladmin system, allowing administrators and developers to download and analyze exception logs leading to process optimization.

What is the vulnerability?

CVE-2025-22978 is a CSV Injection vulnerability in the exception log download module of eladmin version 2.7 and earlier. CSV Injection is a technique where specially crafted payloads are inserted into CSV data. When the affected CSV files are opened with a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel, the payload gets interpreted as formulas, enabling the attacker to execute arbitrary commands or exfiltrate data.

How does the vulnerability work?

The vulnerability in the exception log download module allows attackers to inject malicious code into the CSV data during the download process. The malicious code gets executed inadvertently when a user opens the downloaded CSV file, giving the attacker potential access to sensitive information or even control of the user's system.

For a clear understanding, consider the following code snippet

public void downloadLogs(String startTime, String endTime, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException {
    List<LogError> logs = logErrorService.findByTime(DateUtil.parseDateTime(startTime), DateUtil.parseDateTime(endTime));
    String fileName = "ExceptionLog_" + System.currentTimeMillis() + ".csv";
    CsvUtil.exportToCsv(response, logs, LogError.class, fileName);
}

This piece of code handles the download process of logs in a specific time range. It fetches the logs from the logErrorService and converts them into a CSV file called "ExceptionLog_" followed by a timestamp. However, there is no proper input validation here, and that's where the flaw takes place.

Consider an attacker inserting a malicious payload into the exception log, like this

=cmd|' /C calc'!A1

When this log entry is downloaded and opened in an application like Microsoft Excel, it will execute the embedded command (calc in this case), which opens the calculator application on the user's system.

Though this is a harmless example, attackers can make use of several other commands, like accessing sensitive information, sending data over the network, and spreading malware.

How to Mitigate the Vulnerability?

A possible mitigation method is implementing proper input validation and sanitization during the exception log download process. For instance, you can prefix single quotes ' before any input value starting with a character which could be interpreted as a formula. This will disable the formula execution while preserving the data's integrity. Here's an example of that:

public String sanitizeCSVCellValue(String cellValue) {
    if (cellValue != null && cellValue.trim().length() > ) {
        char firstChar = cellValue.trim().charAt()
        if (firstChar == '=' || firstChar == '+' || firstChar == '-' || firstChar == '@') {
            return "'" + cellValue;
        }
    }
    return cellValue;
}

This method adds a single quote before the cell value if it starts with an equal sign (=), plus sign (+), minus sign (-), or at sign (@) - characters that could trigger formula execution. You can further enhance the sanitization process based on your specific use case.

Original References

1. NVD - National Vulnerability Database: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22978
2. eladmin GitHub Repository: https://github.com/elunez/eladmin

Conclusion

Keeping up to date with security vulnerabilities, like CVE-2025-22978, is essential in maintaining a strong security posture. Organizations and developers using eladmin <=2.7 should quickly assess the impact of this vulnerability on their applications and take timely action to mitigate the CSV injection risks. It's always good to remember that prevention is better than the cure, so be sure to follow proper input validation and sanitization practices while dealing with external inputs.

Timeline

Published on: 02/03/2025 20:15:36 UTC
Last modified on: 03/13/2025 15:15:52 UTC