CVE-2026-55738

HIGH

Stack Buffer Overflow in rxi/microtar raw_to_header() via non-null-terminated TAR name field

Title source: cna
STIX 2.1

Description

A stack-based buffer overflow exists in the raw_to_header() function in src/microtar.c in rxi microtar 0.1.0. The function copies the 100-byte name and linkname fields of a TAR header with strcpy() without guaranteeing null termination of the source. The POSIX ustar format permits these fixed-width fields to be fully populated with non-null bytes, so a crafted archive whose linkname field (followed by the trailing padding of the 512-byte raw header) contains no null terminator causes strcpy() to read past the end of the 512-byte raw header stack buffer and to write past the destination header buffer. A remote attacker who supplies a crafted TAR archive that the victim opens or parses (via mtar_open(), mtar_read_header(), or mtar_find()) can cause an out-of-bounds read and a stack buffer overflow, resulting in denial of service (crash) and potentially arbitrary code execution. Confirmed with AddressSanitizer: stack-buffer-overflow READ of size 356 in raw_to_header at src/microtar.c:112.

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Technical Description technical-description
Vulnerable source code: src/microtar.c (raw_to_header)
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rxi/microtar/master/src/microtar.c

Scores

CVSS v3 8.8
EPSS 0.0063
EPSS Percentile 46.9%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Details

CWE
CWE-121 CWE-170
Status published
Products (1)
rxi/microtar 0.1.0
Published Jun 17, 2026
Tracked Since Jun 17, 2026