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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

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

EPSS score

0.385%
(74th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2018-20834

GHSA ID

GHSA-j44m-qm6p-hp7m

Source code

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