From 0b7811d8821f6814e64a417f88313dbe83bd0f5a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ben Senescu <44480372+bensenescu@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2026 14:18:27 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix: sanitize CSV exports against formula injection (#103)

---
 src/client/features/backlinks/export.test.ts | 35 ++++++++++++++++++++
 src/client/lib/csv.ts                        | 21 +++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 55 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/client/features/backlinks/export.test.ts b/src/client/features/backlinks/export.test.ts
index 74e3711..c2f249f 100644
--- a/src/client/features/backlinks/export.test.ts
+++ b/src/client/features/backlinks/export.test.ts
@@ -90,4 +90,39 @@ describe("buildBacklinksTabCsvFile", () => {
     );
     expect(file.content).toContain('"https://docs.example.com/start"');
   });
+  it("sanitizes formula-like cell values to prevent CSV injection", () => {
+    const file = buildBacklinksTabCsvFile({
+      tab: "backlinks",
+      target: "example.com",
+      rows: {
+        backlinks: [
+          {
+            domainFrom: "=cmd|' /C calc'!A0",
+            urlFrom: "+https://evil.example/source",
+            urlTo: "@https://evil.example/target",
+            anchor: "\tformula",
+            itemType: "organic",
+            isDofollow: true,
+            relAttributes: [],
+            rank: 1,
+            domainFromRank: 1,
+            pageFromRank: 1,
+            spamScore: 0,
+            firstSeen: "2025-01-01",
+            lastSeen: "2025-01-01",
+            isLost: false,
+            isBroken: false,
+            linksCount: 1,
+          },
+        ],
+        referringDomains: [],
+        topPages: [],
+      },
+    });
+
+    expect(file.content).toContain("\"'=cmd|' /C calc'!A0\"");
+    expect(file.content).toContain('"\'+https://evil.example/source"');
+    expect(file.content).toContain('"\'@https://evil.example/target"');
+    expect(file.content).toContain('"\'\tformula"');
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/client/lib/csv.ts b/src/client/lib/csv.ts
index d800639..011a46b 100644
--- a/src/client/lib/csv.ts
+++ b/src/client/lib/csv.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ import Papa from "papaparse";
 type CsvValue = string | number | boolean | null | undefined;
 
 export function buildCsv(headers: string[], rows: CsvValue[][]): string {
-  const normalizedRows = rows.map((row) => row.map((value) => value ?? ""));
+  const normalizedRows = rows.map((row) =>
+    row.map((value) => sanitizeCsvValue(value ?? "")),
+  );
 
   return Papa.unparse(
     {
@@ -17,6 +19,23 @@ export function buildCsv(headers: string[], rows: CsvValue[][]): string {
   );
 }
 
+// Prevent CSV injection (formula injection) by prefixing dangerous characters
+// with a single quote. See OWASP guidance:
+// https://owasp.org/www-community/attacks/CSV_Injection
+function sanitizeCsvValue(
+  value: string | number | boolean,
+): string | number | boolean {
+  if (typeof value !== "string" || value.length === 0) {
+    return value;
+  }
+
+  if (["=", "+", "-", "@", "\t", "\r", "\n"].includes(value[0])) {
+    return `'${value}`;
+  }
+
+  return value;
+}
+
 export function downloadCsv(filename: string, content: string): void {
   const blob = new Blob([content], { type: "text/csv;charset=utf-8;" });
   const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);