CVE-2021-32804Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite due to insufficient absolute path sanitization
- 8.2HighCVSS base score
- 15.1%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 3.2% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 6.1.1, 5.0.6, 4.4.14, and 3.3.2 has a arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite vulnerability due to insufficient absolute path sanitization. node-tar aims to prevent extraction of absolute file paths by turning absolute paths into relative paths when the `preservePaths` flag is not set to `true`. This is achieved by stripping the absolute path root from any absolute file paths contained in a tar file. For example `/home/user/.bashrc` would turn into `home/user/.bashrc`. This logic was insufficient when file paths contained repeated path roots such as `////home/user/.bashrc`. `node-tar` would only strip a single path root from such paths. When given an absolute file path with repeating path roots, the resulting path (e.g. `///home/user/.bashrc`) would still resolve to an absolute path, thus allowing arbitrary file creation and overwrite. This issue was addressed in releases 3.2.2, 4.4.14, 5.0.6 and 6.1.1. Users may work around this vulnerability without upgrading by creating a custom `onentry` method which sanitizes the `entry.path` or a `filter` method which removes entries with absolute paths. See referenced GitHub Advisory for details. Be aware of CVE-2021-32803 which fixes a similar bug in later versions of tar.
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 3 months later
· 3 months later
Published
- 3 years later
· 3 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High8.2 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High8.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 15.1% · top 3.2% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.2.
Affected products
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
References
References6
- https://www.npmjs.com/package/tar (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/npm/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-3jfq-g458-7qm9 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://github.com/npm/node-tar/commit/1f036ca23f64a547bdd6c79c1a44bc62e8115da4 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/1770 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-389290.pdf (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2021-1548 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-3jfq-g458-7qm9 (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2021-32804)Record last updated .