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Coverage › CVE-2023-7101

CVE-2023-7101 Mapped Sigma

Spreadsheet::ParseExcel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Vendor / product
Spreadsheet::ParseExcel — Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
Description (CISA)
Spreadsheet::ParseExcel contains a remote code execution vulnerability due to passing unvalidated input from a file into a string-type “eval”. Specifically, the issue stems from the evaluation of Number format strings within the Excel parsing logic.
Added to KEV
2024-01-02
Due date
2024-01-23
Required action
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Known ransomware use
Unknown
CWE
CWE-95
CISA notes
This vulnerability affects a common open-source component, third-party library, or a protocol used by different products. Please check with specific vendors for information on patching status. For more information, please see: https://metacpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel and Barracuda's specific implementation and fix for their downstream issue CVE-2023-7102 at https://www.barracuda.com/company/legal/esg-vulnerability
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-7101
Elsewhere
cve.org · NVD · CISA KEV · JSON

ATT&CK techniques · CTID Mappings Explorer, ATT&CK 16.1, KEV snapshot 2025-07-28

3 mapping objects across 3 techniques. exploitation technique states how the vulnerability is exploited; primary and secondary impact state what exploitation achieves. They are different claims and are labelled as such.

TechniqueMapping typeCTID commentStatus in v19.2
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application exploitation technique This vulnerability is exploited by a remote attacker by passing unvalidated input from a file into a string-type "eval". Specifically, the issue stems from the evaluation of Number format strings (not to be confused with printf-style format strings) within the Excel parsing logic. After successful exploitation, the attacker gains the ability to perform remote code execution. This vulnerability has been targeted by Chinese hackers who exploited the vulnerability in Spreadsheet::ParseExcel to compromise appliances. In collaboration with cybersecurity firm Mandiant, Barracuda assesses that the threat actor behind the attacks is UNC4841, who leveraged the flaw to deploy ‘SeaSpy’ and ‘Saltwater’ malware.
ref 1 · ref 2 · ref 3
live
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter primary impact This vulnerability is exploited by a remote attacker by passing unvalidated input from a file into a string-type "eval". Specifically, the issue stems from the evaluation of Number format strings (not to be confused with printf-style format strings) within the Excel parsing logic. After successful exploitation, the attacker gains the ability to perform remote code execution. This vulnerability has been targeted by Chinese hackers who exploited the vulnerability in Spreadsheet::ParseExcel to compromise appliances. In collaboration with cybersecurity firm Mandiant, Barracuda assesses that the threat actor behind the attacks is UNC4841, who leveraged the flaw to deploy ‘SeaSpy’ and ‘Saltwater’ malware.
ref 1 · ref 2 · ref 3
live
T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer secondary impact This vulnerability is exploited by a remote attacker by passing unvalidated input from a file into a string-type "eval". Specifically, the issue stems from the evaluation of Number format strings (not to be confused with printf-style format strings) within the Excel parsing logic. After successful exploitation, the attacker gains the ability to perform remote code execution. This vulnerability has been targeted by Chinese hackers who exploited the vulnerability in Spreadsheet::ParseExcel to compromise appliances. In collaboration with cybersecurity firm Mandiant, Barracuda assesses that the threat actor behind the attacks is UNC4841, who leveraged the flaw to deploy ‘SeaSpy’ and ‘Saltwater’ malware.
ref 1 · ref 2 · ref 3
live

Detection chain · ATT&CK Enterprise v19.2 detection strategies, analytics, log sources

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter primary impact

Sigma rules tagged attack.t1059 (95)

Author: Sohan G (D4rkCiph3r) · 2023-04-05 · logsource: product=macos category=process_creation · 0250638a-2b28-4541-86fc-ea4c558fa0c6
Detects suspicious child processes spawned from browsers. This could be a result of a potential web browser exploitation.
Techniques: T1189T1203T1059
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2023-04-17 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 05ebafc8-7aa2-4bcd-a269-2aec93f9e842
Detects usage of winget to add new additional download sources
Techniques: T1059
Author: Victor Sergeev, oscd.community · 2020-10-09 (modified 2024-04-23) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 06b401f4-107c-4ff9-947f-9ec1e7649f1e
Detects execution of "ftp.exe" script with the "-s" or "/s" flag and any child processes ran by "ftp.exe".
Techniques: T1059T1202
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), E.M. Anhaus (originally from Atomic Blue Detections, Endgame), oscd.community · 2022-06-14 (modified 2023-01-04) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 0955e4e1-c281-4fb9-9ee1-5ee7b4b754d2
Detects execition of commands and binaries from the context of The program compatibility assistant (Pcalua.exe). This can be used as a LOLBIN in order to bypass application whitelisting.
Techniques: T1059
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) · 2025-11-25 · logsource: product=linux category=process_creation · 11bb9b26-4179-4a06-afcb-1ec31fce1627
Detects potential Shai-Hulud malware indicators based on specific command line arguments associated with its execution.
Techniques: T1059
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2022-02-08 (modified 2026-02-17) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 1228c958-e64e-4e71-92ad-7d429f4138ba
Detects suspicious script execution from suspicious directories or folders accessible by environment variables that may indicate malware activity. Script interpreters (cscript, wscript, mshta, powershell) executing from folders like Temp, Public, or user profile directories may suggest attempts to evade detection or execute malicious scripts.
Techniques: T1059
Author: Josh Nickels, Marius Rothenbücher · 2024-09-06 · logsource: product=windows category=dns_query · 12310575-e8b1-475c-a976-57ed540b349c
Detects unusual domain resolutions originating from CScript/WScript that can identify malicious javascript files executing in an environment, often as a result from a phishing or watering hole attack.
Techniques: T1059
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) · 2021-11-20 (modified 2023-03-29) · logsource: product=windows category=file_event · 1277f594-a7d1-4f28-a2d3-73af5cbeab43
Detects Windows shells and scripting applications that write files to suspicious folders
Techniques: T1059
Author: frack113, Tim Shelton (update fp) · 2022-12-05 (modified 2025-03-06) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 178e615d-e666-498b-9630-9ed363038101
Detects when a shell program such as the Windows command prompt or PowerShell is launched with system privileges from a uncommon parent location.
Techniques: T1059
Author: Micah Babinski · 2023-10-15 · logsource: product=windows category=file_event · 1a433e1d-03d2-47a6-8063-ece992cf4e73
Detects the usage of curl.exe, KeyScramblerLogon, or other non-standard/suspicious processes used to create Autoit3.exe. This activity has been associated with DarkGate malware, which uses Autoit3.exe to execute shellcode that performs process injection and connects to the DarkGate command-and-control server. Curl, KeyScramblerLogon, and these other processes consitute non-standard and suspicious ways to retrieve the Autoit3 executable.
Techniques: T1105T1059
Author: Andreas Braathen (mnemonic.io) · 2023-11-14 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 1ddaa9a4-eb0b-4398-a9fe-7b018f9e23db
Detects exploitation attempt of CVE-2023-22518 (Confluence Data Center / Confluence Server), where an attacker can exploit vulnerable endpoints to e.g. create admin accounts and execute arbitrary commands.
Techniques: T1059T1190
CVE tags: CVE-2023-22518
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2023-01-02 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 20a5ffa1-3848-4584-b6f8-c7c7fd9f69c8
Detects execution of ruby using the "-e" flag. This is could be used as a way to launch a reverse shell or execute live ruby code.
Techniques: T1059
Author: Tim Rauch (rule), Elastic (idea) · 2022-10-17 · logsource: product=macos category=process_creation · 234dc5df-40b5-49d1-bf53-0d44ce778eca
Detects when a built-in utility is used to decode and decrypt a payload after a macOS disk image (DMG) is executed. Malware authors may attempt to evade detection and trick users into executing malicious code by encoding and encrypting their payload and placing it in a disk image file. This behavior is consistent with adware or malware families such as Bundlore and Shlayer.
Techniques: T1059T1204T1140
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2023-06-14 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 236d8e89-ed95-4789-a982-36f4643738ba
Detects execution of the "VMwareToolBoxCmd.exe" with the "script" and "set" flag to setup a specific script that's located in a potentially suspicious location to run for a specific VM state
Techniques: T1059
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), X__Junior (Nextron Systems) · 2024-01-11 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 2433a154-bb3d-42e4-86c3-a26bdac91c45
Detects the execution of a renamed "PingCastle" binary based on the PE metadata fields.
Techniques: T1059T1202

All 95 rules on the technique page →

T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer secondary impact

Sigma rules tagged attack.t1105 (87)

Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Cedric MAURUGEON (Update) · 2022-09-15 (modified 2023-05-02) · logsource: product=linux category=process_creation · 00b90cc1-17ec-402c-96ad-3a8117d7a582
Detects a suspicious curl process start the adds a file to a web request
Techniques: T1567T1105
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Cedric MAURUGEON (Update) · 2020-07-03 (modified 2023-05-02) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 00bca14a-df4e-4649-9054-3f2aa676bc04
Detects the execution of the "curl" process with "upload" flags. Which might indicate potential data exfiltration
Techniques: T1567T1105
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2021-12-27 (modified 2022-08-02) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 00d49ed5-4491-4271-a8db-650a4ef6f8c1
Detects suspicious ways to download files from Microsoft domains that are used to store attachments in Emails or OneNote documents
Techniques: T1105T1608
Author: frack113 · 2022-12-25 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 02b64f1b-3f33-4e67-aede-ef3b0a5a8fcf
Detects usage of COM objects that can be abused to download files in PowerShell by CLSID
Techniques: T1105
Author: Furkan CALISKAN, @caliskanfurkan_, @oscd_initiative, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2020-10-05 (modified 2024-03-05) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 04936b66-3915-43ad-a8e5-809eadfd1141
Detects execution of findstr with the "s" and "i" flags for a "subfolder" and "insensitive" search respectively. Attackers sometimes leverage this built-in utility to search the system for interesting files or filter through results of commands.
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) · 2025-06-13 · logsource: product=windows category=image_load · 04fc4b22-91a6-495a-879d-0144fec5ec03
Detects potential exploitation of remote code execution vulnerability CVE-2025-33053 by monitoring suspicious image loads from WebDAV paths. The exploit involves malicious executables from attacker-controlled WebDAV servers loading the Windows system DLLs like gdi32.dll, netapi32.dll, etc.
Techniques: T1218T1105
CVE tags: CVE-2025-33053
Author: frack113 · 2022-08-28 (modified 2024-05-31) · logsource: product=windows category=network_connection · 08249dc0-a28d-4555-8ba5-9255a198e08c
Detects a script interpreter (Wscript/Cscript) initiating a local network connection to download or execute a script hosted on a shared folder.
Techniques: T1105
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) · 2026-04-01 · logsource: product=linux category=process_creation · 0a23a62d-c5b3-468b-a072-25064a9a8c87
Detects the Linux-specific execution chain of the plain-crypto-js malicious npm dependency by Axios NPM package, including payload download via curl and detached execution using nohup and python3. On March 30, 2026, malicious versions (1.14.1, 0.30.4) were published to npm, injecting a dependency (plain-crypto-js@4.2.1) that executed a postinstall script as a cross-platform RAT dropper. The dropper contacted a C2 server, delivered platform-specific payloads, deleted itself, and replaced package.json to evade detection.
Author: frack113, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) · 2022-09-02 (modified 2024-05-31) · logsource: product=windows category=network_connection · 0dba975d-a193-4ed1-a067-424df57570d1
Detects a network connection initiated by the certutil.exe utility. Attackers can abuse the utility in order to download malware or additional payloads.
Techniques: T1105
Author: Sreeman, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) · 2022-01-04 (modified 2025-10-07) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 0e8cfe08-02c9-4815-a2f8-0d157b7ed33e
Detects execution of chromium based browser in headless mode using the "dump-dom" command line to download files
Techniques: T1105T1564.003
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Hieu Tran · 2023-03-13 (modified 2025-07-18) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 0f0450f3-8b47-441e-a31b-15a91dc243e2
Detects potential DLL files being downloaded using the PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest or Invoke-RestMethod cmdlets.
Techniques: T1059.001T1105
Author: Sohan G (D4rkCiph3r), Red Canary (idea) · 2023-08-22 · logsource: product=macos category=process_creation · 13db8d2e-7723-4c2c-93c1-a4d36994f7ef
Detects potential in-memory downloading and compiling of applets using curl and osacompile as seen used by XCSSET malware
Techniques: T1059.007T1105
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2023-02-15 (modified 2025-12-01) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 13e6fe51-d478-4c7e-b0f2-6da9b400a829
Detects the execution of certutil with certain flags that allow the utility to download files from direct IPs.
Techniques: T1027T1105
Author: frack113 · 2021-11-26 (modified 2022-08-13) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 185d7418-f250-42d0-b72e-0c8b70661e93
Download and compress a remote file and store it in a cab file on local machine.
Techniques: T1105
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) · 2017-11-08 (modified 2023-05-18) · logsource: category=proxy · 195c1119-ef07-4909-bb12-e66f5e07bf3c
Detects download of certain file types from hosts with dynamic DNS names (selected list)
Techniques: T1105T1568

All 87 rules on the technique page →

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application exploitation technique

Sigma rules tagged attack.t1190 (149)

Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2023-05-30 · logsource: category=webserver · 043c1609-0e32-4462-a6f2-5a0c2da3fafe
Detects a potential exploitation attempt of CVE-2023-25717 a Remote Code Execution via an unauthenticated HTTP GET Request, in Ruckus Wireless Admin
Techniques: T1190
CVE tags: CVE-2023-25717
Author: @gott_cyber · 2022-12-11 (modified 2023-03-24) · logsource: category=webserver · 0bbcd74b-0596-41a4-94a0-4e88a76ffdb3
Detects exploitation attempt of the CVE-2021-27905 which affects all Apache Solr versions prior to and including 8.8.1.
Techniques: T1190
CVE tags: CVE-2021-27905
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) · 2020-07-10 (modified 2023-01-02) · logsource: category=webserver · 0d0d9a8a-a49e-4e27-b061-7ce4b936cfb7
Detects exploitation attempt against Citrix Netscaler, Application Delivery Controller (ADS) and Citrix Gateway exploiting vulnerabilities reported as CVE-2020-8193 and CVE-2020-8195
Techniques: T1190
CVE tags: CVE-2020-8193CVE-2020-8195
Author: Thomas Patzke · 2017-08-06 (modified 2020-09-01) · logsource: product=ruby_on_rails category=application · 0d2c3d4c-4b48-4ac3-8f23-ea845746bb1a
Detects suspicious Ruby on Rails exceptions that could indicate exploitation attempts
Techniques: T1190
Author: Bhabesh Raj · 2023-02-23 · logsource: category=webserver · 0e1ebc5a-15d0-4bf6-8199-b2535397433a
Detects the potential exploitation attempt of CVE-2023-23752 an Improper access check, in web service endpoints in Joomla
Techniques: T1190
CVE tags: CVE-2023-23752
Author: Nisarg Suthar · 2025-08-01 · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 0fdc7c7f-c690-4217-9ae3-31f5156eed72
Detects suspicious child processes created by CrushFTP. It could be an indication of exploitation of a RCE vulnerability such as CVE-2025-54309.
CVE tags: CVE-2025-54309
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) · 2019-05-22 (modified 2023-01-25) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 1012f107-b8f1-4271-af30-5aed2de89b39
Detects a process spawned by the terminal service server process (this could be an indicator for an exploitation of CVE-2019-0708)
Techniques: T1190T1210
Author: jamesc-grafana · 2024-07-11 · logsource: product=aws service=cloudtrail · 14f3f1c8-02d5-43a2-a191-91ffb52d3015
Detects changes to the security group entries for RDS databases. This can indicate that a misconfiguration has occurred which potentially exposes the database to the public internet, a wider audience within the VPC or that removal of valid rules has occurred which could impact the availability of the database to legitimate services and users.
Techniques: T1190
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) · 2025-11-20 · logsource: category=proxy · 15697955-6a29-47ca-92e9-0e05efae3260
Detects suspicious requests to Cisco ASA WebVpn via proxy logs associated with CVE-2025-20333 and CVE-2025-20362 exploitation.
Techniques: T1190
CVE tags: CVE-2025-20333CVE-2025-20362
Author: Bhabesh Raj · 2021-01-25 (modified 2023-01-02) · logsource: category=webserver · 15c312b9-00d0-4feb-8870-7d940a4bdc5e
Detects the exploitation of the TerraMaster TOS vulnerability described in CVE-2020-28188
Techniques: T1190
CVE tags: CVE-2020-28188
Author: Moti Harmats · 2023-02-11 · logsource: product=velocity category=application · 16c86189-b556-4ee8-b4c7-7e350a195a4f
Detects exceptions in velocity template renderer, this most likely happens due to dynamic rendering of user input and may lead to RCE.
Techniques: T1190
Author: Bhabesh Raj · 2021-02-24 (modified 2023-01-02) · logsource: category=webserver · 179ed852-0f9b-4009-93a7-68475910fd86
Detects the exploitation of VSphere Remote Code Execution vulnerability as described in CVE-2021-21972
Techniques: T1190
CVE tags: CVE-2021-21972
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · 2022-12-22 (modified 2023-01-02) · logsource: category=webserver · 181f49fa-0b21-4665-a98c-a57025ebb8c7
Detects exploitation attempt of the OWASSRF variant targeting exchange servers It uses the OWA endpoint to access the powershell backend endpoint
Techniques: T1190
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Tim Shelton · 2022-07-19 (modified 2026-06-11) · logsource: category=webserver · 19aa4f58-94ca-45ff-bc34-92e533c0994a
Detects known suspicious (default) user-agents related to scanning/recon tools
Techniques: T1190
Author: Thomas Patzke · 2017-08-12 (modified 2020-09-01) · logsource: product=python category=application · 19aefed0-ffd4-47dc-a7fc-f8b1425e84f9
Generic rule for SQL exceptions in Python according to PEP 249
Techniques: T1190

All 149 rules on the technique page →