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Arbitrary File Overwrite in tar

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 1, 2019 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Nov 29, 2023

Package

npm tar (npm)

Affected versions

< 2.2.2
>= 3.0.0, < 4.4.2

Patched versions

2.2.2
4.4.2

Description

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.

References

Reviewed May 1, 2019
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 1, 2019
Last updated Nov 29, 2023

Severity

High
7.5
/ 10

CVSS base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2018-20834

GHSA ID

GHSA-j44m-qm6p-hp7m

Source code

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