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High

Arbitrary File Overwrite in tar

  • Disclosed: 01.05.2019
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Versions of tar prior to 4.4.2 for 4.x and 2.2.2 for 2.x are vulnerable to Arbitrary File Overwrite. Extracting tarballs containing a hardlink to a file that already exists in the system, and a file that matches the hardlink will overwrite the system's file with the contents of the extracted file.

Recommendation

For tar 4.x, upgrade to version 4.4.2 or later. For tar 2.x, upgrade to version 2.2.2 or later.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
npm package tar >= 3.0.0, < 4.4.2, < 2.2.2 4.4.2, 2.2.2

References

CVSS score 7.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-59
Platform
npm
Package
tar
Disclosed
01.05.2019
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-j44m-qm6p-hp7m - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: tar

All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (21) in the archive
Total entries
21
First → latest
10.2017 07.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 1
  • High 15
  • Medium 5

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. node-tar: Uncontrolled recursion in mapHas/filesFilter allows uncatchable stack-overflow DoS via crafted long-path tar with member selection
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-73566 < 7.5.21 7.5.21
  2. node-tar: Decompression/parse DoS via unlimited input
    Critical · 7.5 CVE-2026-59873 < 7.5.19 7.5.19
  3. node-tar: Negative tar entry size causes infinite loop in archive replace
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-59874 < 7.5.18 7.5.18
  4. node-tar Symlink Path Traversal via Drive-Relative Linkpath
    High CVE-2026-31802 < 7.5.11 7.5.11
  5. tar has Hardlink Path Traversal via Drive-Relative Linkpath
    High CVE-2026-29786 < 7.5.10 7.5.10
  6. Arbitrary File Read/Write via Hardlink Target Escape Through Symlink Chain in node-tar Extraction
    High · 7.1 CVE-2026-26960 < 7.5.8 7.5.8
  7. node-tar Vulnerable to Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via Hardlink Path Traversal
    High · 8.2 CVE-2026-24842 < 7.5.7 7.5.7
  8. Race Condition in node-tar Path Reservations via Unicode Ligature Collisions on macOS APFS
    High · 8.8 CVE-2026-23950 < 7.5.4 7.5.4
  9. node-tar is Vulnerable to Arbitrary File Overwrite and Symlink Poisoning via Insufficient Path Sanitization
    High CVE-2026-23745 < 7.5.3 7.5.3
  10. Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via insufficient symlink protection due to directory cache poisoning using symbolic links
    High · 8.2 CVE-2021-37701 >= 3.0.0, < 4.4.16, >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.8, >= 6.0.0, < 6.1.7 4.4.16, 5.0.8, 6.1.7
  11. Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via insufficient symlink protection due to directory cache poisoning using symbolic links
    High · 8.2 CVE-2021-37712 >= 3.0.0, < 4.4.18, >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.10, >= 6.0.0, < 6.1.9 4.4.18, 5.0.10, 6.1.9
  12. Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite on Windows via insufficient relative path sanitization
    High · 8.2 CVE-2021-37713 < 4.4.18, >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.10, >= 6.0.0, < 6.1.9 4.4.18, 5.0.10, 6.1.9
  13. Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite due to insufficient absolute path sanitization
    High · 8.2 CVE-2021-32804 < 3.2.2, >= 4.0.0, < 4.4.14, >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.6, >= 6.0.0, < 6.1.1 3.2.2, 4.4.14, 5.0.6, 6.1.1
  14. Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via insufficient symlink protection due to directory cache poisoning
    High · 8.2 CVE-2021-32803 >= 3.0.0, < 3.2.3, >= 4.0.0, < 4.4.15, >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.7, >= 6.0.0, < 6.1.2 3.2.3, 4.4.15, 5.0.7, 6.1.2
  15. Arbitrary File Overwrite in tar this entry
    High · 7.5 CVE-2018-20834 >= 3.0.0, < 4.4.2, < 2.2.2 4.4.2, 2.2.2
  16. Symlink Arbitrary File Overwrite in tar
    High · 7.5 CVE-2015-8860 < 2.0.0 2.0.0

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