CVE-2026-46672

Received Received - Intake

CSV Formula Injection in Actual Finance App CLI

Publication date: 2026-07-07

Last updated on: 2026-07-07

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description

Actual is a local-first personal finance app. Prior to 26.6.0, @actual-app/cli ships a hand-rolled CSV serializer in packages/cli/src/output.ts used whenever the global --format csv option is passed, whose escapeCsv helper only handles RFC 4180 delimiter, quote, and newline escaping and does not neutralize standard CSV formula-injection prefixes. Any CLI command that streams an object array containing user-controlled strings, including transactions list, accounts list, payees list, categories list, tags list, category-groups list, rules list, schedules list, and query, can emit cells that auto-evaluate when the resulting CSV is opened in Excel, LibreOffice Calc, or Google Sheets, enabling data exfiltration and arbitrary formula execution. This issue is fixed in version 26.6.0.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-07-07

Last Modified

2026-07-07

Generated

2026-07-08

AI Q&A

2026-07-08

EPSS Evaluated

N/A

NVD

CVE-2026-46672

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
actual_app	cli	26.6.0

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-1236	The product saves user-provided information into a Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as a command when the file is opened by a spreadsheet product.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability exists in the Actual personal finance app's CLI before version 26.6.0. The CLI uses a custom CSV serializer that does not properly neutralize CSV formula-injection prefixes. When a user runs any CLI command that outputs data in CSV format containing user-controlled strings, the resulting CSV file can contain cells that automatically execute formulas when opened in spreadsheet programs like Excel, LibreOffice Calc, or Google Sheets.

This means that malicious input can cause spreadsheet software to execute arbitrary formulas, potentially leading to data exfiltration or other unintended actions.

Impact Analysis

The vulnerability can lead to arbitrary formula execution when CSV files generated by the Actual CLI are opened in spreadsheet applications. This can result in data exfiltration or manipulation, as malicious formulas embedded in CSV cells may execute automatically.

Users who rely on the CLI to export data in CSV format and then open those files in spreadsheet software are at risk of having their data compromised or leaked.

Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, upgrade the Actual app to version 26.6.0 or later, where the issue has been fixed.

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