CVE & Exploit Intelligence Database

CVE-2025-45582 4.1 MEDIUM 1 Writeup EPSS 0.00

GNU Tar through 1.35 allows file overwrite via directory traversal in crafted TAR archives, with a certain two-step process. First, the victim must extract an archive that contains a ../ symlink to a critical directory. Second, the victim must extract an archive that contains a critical file, specified via a relative pathname that begins with the symlink name and ends with that critical file's name. Here, the extraction follows the symlink and overwrites the critical file. This bypasses the protection mechanism of "Member name contains '..'" that would occur for a single TAR archive that attempted to specify the critical file via a ../ approach. For example, the first archive can contain "x -> ../../../../../home/victim/.ssh" and the second archive can contain x/authorized_keys. This can affect server applications that automatically extract any number of user-supplied TAR archives, and were relying on the blocking of traversal. This can also affect software installation processes in which "tar xf" is run more than once (e.g., when installing a package can automatically install two dependencies that are set up as untrusted tarballs instead of official packages). NOTE: the official GNU Tar manual has an otherwise-empty directory for each "tar xf" in its Security Rules of Thumb; however, third-party advice leads users to run "tar xf" more than once into the same directory.

CWE-24 Jul 11, 2025

CVE-2023-39804 6.2 MEDIUM EPSS 0.00

In GNU tar before 1.35, mishandled extension attributes in a PAX archive can lead to an application crash in xheader.c.

Mar 27, 2024

CVE-2022-48303 5.5 MEDIUM EPSS 0.00

GNU Tar through 1.34 has a one-byte out-of-bounds read that results in use of uninitialized memory for a conditional jump. Exploitation to change the flow of control has not been demonstrated. The issue occurs in from_header in list.c via a V7 archive in which mtime has approximately 11 whitespace characters.

CWE-125 Jan 30, 2023

CVE-2021-20193 3.3 LOW EPSS 0.00

A flaw was found in the src/list.c of tar 1.33 and earlier. This flaw allows an attacker who can submit a crafted input file to tar to cause uncontrolled consumption of memory. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.

CWE-125 Mar 26, 2021

CVE-2019-9923 7.5 HIGH EPSS 0.00

pax_decode_header in sparse.c in GNU Tar before 1.32 had a NULL pointer dereference when parsing certain archives that have malformed extended headers.

CWE-476 Mar 22, 2019

CVE-2018-20482 4.7 MEDIUM EPSS 0.00

GNU Tar through 1.30, when --sparse is used, mishandles file shrinkage during read access, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (infinite read loop in sparse_dump_region in sparse.c) by modifying a file that is supposed to be archived by a different user's process (e.g., a system backup running as root).

CWE-835 Dec 26, 2018

CVE-2016-6321 7.5 HIGH EPSS 0.11

Directory traversal vulnerability in the safer_name_suffix function in GNU tar 1.14 through 1.29 might allow remote attackers to bypass an intended protection mechanism and write to arbitrary files via vectors related to improper sanitization of the file_name parameter, aka POINTYFEATHER.

CWE-22 Dec 09, 2016

CVE-2010-0624 EPSS 0.01

Heap-based buffer overflow in the rmt_read__ function in lib/rtapelib.c in the rmt client functionality in GNU tar before 1.23 and GNU cpio before 2.11 allows remote rmt servers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or possibly execute arbitrary code by sending more data than was requested, related to archive filenames that contain a : (colon) character.

CWE-119 Mar 15, 2010

CVE-2007-4476 1 PoC Analysis EPSS 0.12

Buffer overflow in the safer_name_suffix function in GNU tar has unspecified attack vectors and impact, resulting in a "crashing stack."

CWE-119 Sep 05, 2007

CVE-2007-4131 EPSS 0.11

Directory traversal vulnerability in the contains_dot_dot function in src/names.c in GNU tar allows user-assisted remote attackers to overwrite arbitrary files via certain //.. (slash slash dot dot) sequences in directory symlinks in a TAR archive.

Aug 25, 2007

CVE-2006-6097 1 PoC Analysis EPSS 0.10

GNU tar 1.16 and 1.15.1, and possibly other versions, allows user-assisted attackers to overwrite arbitrary files via a tar file that contains a GNUTYPE_NAMES record with a symbolic link, which is not properly handled by the extract_archive function in extract.c and extract_mangle function in mangle.c, a variant of CVE-2002-1216.

Nov 24, 2006

CVE-2006-0300 EPSS 0.19

Buffer overflow in tar 1.14 through 1.15.90 allows user-assisted attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) and possibly execute code via unspecified vectors involving PAX extended headers.

Feb 24, 2006

CVE-2005-1918 EPSS 0.02

The original patch for a GNU tar directory traversal vulnerability (CVE-2002-0399) in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 2.1 uses an "incorrect optimization" that allows user-assisted attackers to overwrite arbitrary files via a crafted tar file, probably involving "/../" sequences with a leading "/".

CWE-22 Dec 31, 2005

CVE-2005-2541 EPSS 0.03

Tar 1.15.1 does not properly warn the user when extracting setuid or setgid files, which may allow local users or remote attackers to gain privileges.

Aug 10, 2005

CVE-2002-1216 EPSS 0.01

GNU tar 1.13.19 and other versions before 1.13.25 allows remote attackers to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack, as the result of a modification that effectively disabled the security check.

Oct 28, 2002

CVE-2002-0399 EPSS 0.01

Directory traversal vulnerability in GNU tar 1.13.19 through 1.13.25, and possibly later versions, allows attackers to overwrite arbitrary files during archive extraction via a (1) "/.." or (2) "./.." string, which removes the leading slash but leaves the "..", a variant of CVE-2001-1267.

Oct 10, 2002

CVE-2001-1267 EPSS 0.00

Directory traversal vulnerability in GNU tar 1.13.19 and earlier allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files during archive extraction via a tar file whose filenames contain a .. (dot dot).

Jul 12, 2001