CVE-2025-45582: tar — Exploit

Description

GNU Tar through 1.35 allows file overwrite via directory traversal in crafted TAR archives, with a certain two-step process. First, the victim must extract an archive that contains a ../ symlink to a critical directory. Second, the victim must extract an archive that contains a critical file, specified via a relative pathname that begins with the symlink name and ends with that critical file's name. Here, the extraction follows the symlink and overwrites the critical file. This bypasses the protection mechanism of "Member name contains '..'" that would occur for a single TAR archive that attempted to specify the critical file via a ../ approach. For example, the first archive can contain "x -> ../../../../../home/victim/.ssh" and the second archive can contain x/authorized_keys. This can affect server applications that automatically extract any number of user-supplied TAR archives, and were relying on the blocking of traversal. This can also affect software installation processes in which "tar xf" is run more than once (e.g., when installing a package can automatically install two dependencies that are set up as untrusted tarballs instead of official packages). NOTE: the official GNU Tar manual has an otherwise-empty directory for each "tar xf" in its Security Rules of Thumb; however, third-party advice leads users to run "tar xf" more than once into the same directory.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

4.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-24 CWE-24

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
gnu	tar	< 1.35

References

Exploits

https://github.com/i900008/vulndb/blob/main/Gnu_tar_vuln.md

Other References

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2025-08/msg00012.html https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/ https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/Integrity.html https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/Security-rules-of-thumb.html http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/11/01/6

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-45582? +

GNU Tar through 1.35 allows file overwrite via directory traversal in crafted TAR archives, with a certain two-step process. First, the victim must extract an archive that contains a ../ symlink to a critical directory. Second, the victim must extract an archive that contains a critical file, specified via a relative pathname that begins with the symlink name and ends with that critical file's name. Here, the extraction follows the symlink and overwrites the critical file. This bypasses the protection mechanism of "Member name contains '..'" that would occur for a single TAR archive that attempted to specify the critical file via a ../ approach. For example, the first archive can contain "x -> ../../../../../home/victim/.ssh" and the second archive can contain x/authorized_keys. This can affect server applications that automatically extract any number of user-supplied TAR archives, and were relying on the blocking of traversal. This can also affect software installation processes in which "tar xf" is run more than once (e.g., when installing a package can automatically install two dependencies that are set up as untrusted tarballs instead of official packages). NOTE: the official GNU Tar manual has an otherwise-empty directory for each "tar xf" in its Security Rules of Thumb; however, third-party advice leads users to run "tar xf" more than once into the same directory. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.1 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2025-45582? +

CVE-2025-45582 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 4.1 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

What products are affected by CVE-2025-45582? +

CVE-2025-45582 affects products from gnu, specifically: tar. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2025-45582? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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