Security Risk: OLEDB Excel

Question

I'm writing a web app that will read data from an Excel file submitted by an authenticated user by opening an OLEDB connection to it. Can anyone tell me the security risks of opening up an Excel file this way? I know dangerous macros can be embedded in excel files, but is that still a risk when using a OLEDB connection?

Thanks.

Answer 1

No, there are no "Excel" security risks using OLEDB to read data from Excel workbooks. Any security risks will be through ADO (OLEDB) and not the Microsoft Excel application. Therefore, macros are not a concern, nor are cell formulas.

You may want to search for "ado oledb security excel" to satisfy your curiosity, but I do not believe you will find anything to worry about.