Improper Neutralization of Formula Elements in a CSV File in Gradio Flagging

Impact

The gradio library has a flagging functionality which saves input/output data into a CSV file on the developer’s computer. This can allow a user to save arbitrary text into the CSV file, such as commands. If a program like MS Excel opens such a file, then it automatically runs these commands, which could lead to arbitrary commands running on the user’s computer.

Patches

The problem has been patched as of 2.8.11, which escapes the data saved to the csv with single quotes.

Workarounds

If you are using an older version of gradio, don’t open csv files generated by gradio with Excel or similar spreadsheet programs.