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OsticketApplication · Enhancesoft

CVE-2019-14749

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-08-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.10.7 / 1.12.1 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An issue was discovered in osTicket before 1.10.7 and 1.12.x before 1.12.1. CSV (aka Formula) injection exists in the export spreadsheets functionality. These spreadsheets are generated dynamically from unvalidated or unfiltered user input in the Name and Internal Notes fields in the Users tab, and the Issue Summary field in the tickets tab. This allows other agents to download data in a .csv file format or .xls file format. This is used as input for spreadsheet applications such as Excel and OpenOffice Calc, resulting in a situation where cells in the spreadsheets can contain input from an untrusted source. As a result, the end user who is accessing the exported spreadsheet can be affected.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

osTicket before version 1.10.7 and 1.12.x before 1.12.1 contains a formula injection (CSV injection) vulnerability in the spreadsheet export functionality. User-supplied input from the Name and Internal Notes fields in the Users tab, and the Issue Summary field in the Tickets tab, is dynamically inserted into .csv or .xls files without sanitization. When opened in spreadsheet applications like Excel or OpenOffice Calc, formula characters (=, +, -, @) trigger code execution, affecting the end user who downloads and views the exported data.

MitigationImplement strict input validation to escape or strip formula characters (=, +, -, @, tab, CR/LF) from user-provided data in the Name, Internal Notes, and Issue Summary fields before including them in spreadsheet exports. Additionally, prefix formula characters with a single quote or apply output encoding when generating CSV/XLS files.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
OsticketApplication
Affected:< 1.10.7>= 1.12, < 1.12.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify osTicket installation and version
    Locate the osTicket installation and check the version number in the software documentation, admin panel, or version file. Common paths include /include/version.php or checking the release notes. Compare your version to the affected ranges: < 1.10.7 or >= 1.12.0 and < 1.12.1
    Affected if The installed version is less than 1.10.7, or is 1.12.0 exactly, or falls between 1.12.0 (inclusive) and 1.12.1 (exclusive)
  2. Confirm access to Users tab export functionality
    Log into the osTicket admin or agent interface and navigate to the Users tab. Locate the export or spreadsheet download option for user data. Verify if the Name and Internal Notes fields are included in the export
    Affected if The Users tab export feature exists and includes Name or Internal Notes fields without apparent input sanitization indicators
  3. Confirm access to Tickets tab export functionality
    Log into the osTicket admin or agent interface and navigate to the Tickets tab. Locate the export or spreadsheet download option for ticket data. Verify if the Issue Summary field is included in the export
    Affected if The Tickets tab export feature exists and includes the Issue Summary field without apparent input sanitization indicators
  4. Inspect exported CSV/XLS files for formula characters
    If you have access to past exports or can generate a test export, open the resulting .csv or .xls file in a text editor or spreadsheet application. Search for the presence of formula trigger characters (=, +, -, @) in data fields that originated from user input
    Affected if The exported file contains unescaped formula characters in user-supplied fields

You are affected if your osTicket version is below 1.10.7 or between 1.12.0 and 1.12.1 (exclusive), and you use the spreadsheet export feature on Users or Tickets containing the Name, Internal Notes, or Issue Summary fields.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.10.7 / 1.12.1 or later
Fixed in 1.10.71.12.1
Vendor patch github.com →
Interim mitigation

Implement strict input validation to escape or strip formula characters (=, +, -, @, tab, CR/LF) from user-provided data in the Name, Internal Notes, and Issue Summary fields before including them in spreadsheet exports. Additionally, prefix formula characters with a single quote or apply output encoding when generating CSV/XLS files.

Fix this in Osticket Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-14749 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data