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Document Merge Service vulnerable to RCE via SSTI (xlsx tempaltes)

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jun 11, 2026 in adfinis/document-merge-service • Updated Aug 19, 2026

Package

pip document-merge-service (pip)

Affected versions

< 9.1.0

Patched versions

9.1.0

Description

Impact

A remote code execution (RCE) via server-side template injection (SSTI) allows for user supplied code to be executed in the server's context where it is executed as the document-merge-server user with the UID 901 thus giving an attacker considerable control over the container. The vulnerability is limited to XLSX templates, were the xltpl library uses a npn-sandboxed Jinja environment for the processing of the template.

Patches

It has been patched in v9.1.0

Workarounds

Disable the upload/usage of XLSX templates.

References

Are there any links users can visit to find out more?

https://book.hacktricks.xyz/pentesting-web/ssti-server-side-template-injection/jinja2-ssti

References

@derrabauke derrabauke published to adfinis/document-merge-service Jun 11, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Aug 19, 2026
Reviewed Aug 19, 2026
Last updated Aug 19, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine

The product uses a template engine to insert or process externally-influenced input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements or syntax that can be interpreted as template expressions or other code directives when processed by the engine. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-53964

GHSA ID

GHSA-w47q-945m-q9pc

Source code

Credits

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