CVE-2021-32803
Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via insufficient symlink protection due to directory cache poisoning
In short
The tar package fails to properly check for dangerous symbolic links when extracting files. An attacker can create a specially crafted tar file that tricks the software into extracting files to arbitrary locations on your system, potentially overwriting important files.
Technical detail
The vulnerability stems from directory cache poisoning in node-tar's symlink detection logic. When a tar archive contains both a directory and a symlink with identical names, the directory is cached, causing subsequent symlink validation checks to be skipped during extraction. This allows an attacker to bypass CWE-22 path traversal protections by first creating a legitimate directory entry, then replacing it with a symlink to an arbitrary path, enabling arbitrary file creation and overwrite during extraction.
Summary generated and translated by AI from the official description.
The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 6.1.2, 5.0.7, 4.4.15, and 3.2.3 has an arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite vulnerability via insufficient symlink protection. `node-tar` aims to guarantee that any file whose location would be modified by a symbolic link is not extracted. This is, in part, achieved by ensuring that extracted directories are not symlinks. Additionally, in order to prevent unnecessary `stat` calls to determine whether a given path is a directory, paths are cached when directories are created. This logic was insufficient when extracting tar files that contained both a directory and a symlink with the same name as the directory. This order of operations resulted in the directory being created and added to the `node-tar` directory cache. When a directory is present in the directory cache, subsequent calls to mkdir for that directory are skipped. However, this is also where `node-tar` checks for symlinks occur. By first creating a directory, and then replacing that directory with a symlink, it was thus possible to bypass `node-tar` symlink checks on directories, essentially allowing an untrusted tar file to symlink into an arbitrary location and subsequently extracting arbitrary files into that location, thus allowing arbitrary file creation and overwrite. This issue was addressed in releases 3.2.3, 4.4.15, 5.0.7 and 6.1.2.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N