The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 4.4.18, 5.0.10, and 6.1.9 has an arbitrary file creation/overwrite and arbitrary code execution vulnerability. node-tar aims to guarantee that any file whose location would be outside of the extraction target directory is not extracted. This is, in part, accomplished by sanitizing absolute paths of entries within the archive, skipping archive entries that contain .. path portions, and resolving the sanitized paths against the extraction target directory. This logic was insufficient on Windows systems when extracting tar files that contained a path that was not an absolute path, but specified a drive letter different from the extraction target, such as C:some\path. If the drive letter does not match the extraction target, for example D:\extraction\dir, then the result of path.resolve(extractionDirectory, entryPath) would resolve against the current working directory on the C: drive, rather than the extraction target directory. Additionally, a .. portion of the path could occur immediately after the drive letter, such as C:../foo, and was not properly sanitized by the logic that checked for .. within the normalized and split portions of the path. This only affects users of node-tar on Windows systems. These issues were addressed in releases 4.4.18, 5.0.10 and 6.1.9. The v3 branch of node-tar has been deprecated and did not receive patches for these issues. If you are still using a v3 release we recommend you update to a more recent version of node-tar. There is no reasonable way to work around this issue without performing the same path normalization procedures that node-tar now does. Users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest patched versions of node-tar, rather than attempt to sanitize paths themselves.
CVE-2021-37713
This high-severity CVE scores 8.2 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 1.3%, top 33% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 8.2
- EG Score
- 8.2(medium)
- EG Risk
- —
- EPSS
- 66.6%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
August 31, 2021
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (8)
- security-advisories@githubhttps://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-389290.pdf
- security-advisories@githubhttps://github.com/npm/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-5955-9wpr-37jh
- security-advisories@githubhttps://www.npmjs.com/package/tar
- security-advisories@githubhttps://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-389290.pdf
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/npm/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-5955-9wpr-37jh
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://www.npmjs.com/package/tar
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html
Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
npm(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| tar | — | 6.1.9 | — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 14× in last 7d / 46× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
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Related CVEs(same CWE)
Frequently asked(5)
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Dependency Blast Radius
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