[ GLSA 200612-10 ] Tar: Directory traversal vulnerability

[GLSA]

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Title: Tar: Directory traversal vulnerability (GLSA 200612-10)
Severity: normal
Exploitable: remote
Date: December 11, 2006
Bug(s): #155901
ID: 200612-10

Synopsis

Tar is vulnerable to directory traversal possibly allowing for the overwriting of arbitrary files.

Background

The Tar program provides the ability to create and manipulate tar archives.

Affected Packages

Package: app-arch/tar
Vulnerable: < 1.16-r2
Unaffected: >= 1.16-r2
Architectures: All supported architectures


Description

Tar does not properly extract archive elements using the GNUTYPE_NAMES record name, allowing files to be created at arbitrary locations using symlinks. Once a symlink is extracted, files after the symlink in the archive will be extracted to the destination of the symlink.

Impact

An attacker could entice a user to extract a specially crafted tar archive, possibly allowing for the overwriting of arbitrary files on the system extracting the archive.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Tar users should upgrade to the latest version: