CVE-2021-37712

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG Print: PDF PDF

Summary

CVECVE-2021-37712
StatePUBLIC
Assigner[email protected]
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2021-08-31 17:15:00 UTC
Updated2023-02-23 02:28:00 UTC
DescriptionThe 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 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 names containing unicode values that normalized to the same value. Additionally, on Windows systems, long path portions would resolve to the same file system entities as their 8.3 "short path" counterparts. A specially crafted tar archive could thus include a directory with one form of the path, followed by a symbolic link with a different string that resolves to the same file system entity, followed by a file using the first form. By first creating a directory, and then replacing that directory with a symlink that had a different apparent name that resolved to the same entry in the filesystem, 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. 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. If this is not possible, a workaround is available in the referenced GHSA-qq89-hq3f-393p.

Risk And Classification

Problem Types: CWE-22 | CWE-59

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Operating System Debian Debian Linux 10.0 All All All
Operating System Debian Debian Linux 11.0 All All All
Operating System Microsoft Windows - All All All
Application Npmjs Tar All All All All
Application Npmjs Tar All All All All
Application Npmjs Tar All All All All
Application Oracle Graalvm 20.3.3 All All All
Application Oracle Graalvm 21.2.0 All All All
Application Siemens Sinec Infrastructure Network Services All All All All

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
[SECURITY] [DLA 3237-1] node-tar security update MLIST lists.debian.org
Debian -- Security Information -- DSA-5008-1 node-tar DEBIAN www.debian.org
Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory - October 2021 MISC www.oracle.com
Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via insufficient symlink protection due to directory cache poisoning using symbolic links · Advisory · npm/node-tar · GitHub CONFIRM github.com
cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-389290.pdf CONFIRM cert-portal.siemens.com
tar - npm MISC www.npmjs.com
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Legacy QID Mappings

  • 159622 Oracle Enterprise Linux Security Update for nodejs:14 (ELSA-2022-0350)
  • 178894 Debian Security Update for node-tar (DSA 5008-1)
  • 181317 Debian Security Update for node-tar (DLA 3237-1)
  • 182740 Debian Security Update for node-tar (CVE-2021-37712)
  • 239986 Red Hat Update for rh-nodejs14-nodejs and rh-nodejs14-nodejs-nodemon (RHSA-2022:0041)
  • 240037 Red Hat Update for nodejs:14 security (RHSA-2022:0246)
  • 240051 Red Hat Update for nodejs:14 security (RHSA-2022:0350)
  • 240414 Red Hat Update for rh-nodejs12-nodejs security (RHSA-2022:4914)
  • 296065 Oracle Solaris 11.4 Support Repository Update (SRU) 39.107.1 Missing (CPUOCT2021)
  • 375828 Node.js Multiple Vulnerabilities (August 2021)
  • 377422 Alibaba Cloud Linux Security Update for nodejs:14 (ALINUX3-SA-2022:0014)
  • 500445 Alpine Linux Security Update for nodejs
  • 501454 Alpine Linux Security Update for nodejs
  • 504208 Alpine Linux Security Update for nodejs
  • 690030 Free Berkeley Software Distribution (FreeBSD) Security Update for node.js (7062bce0-1b17-11ec-9d9d-0022489ad614)
  • 751457 OpenSUSE Security Update for nodejs12 (openSUSE-SU-2021:3940-1)
  • 751475 OpenSUSE Security Update for nodejs14 (openSUSE-SU-2021:3964-1)
  • 751509 OpenSUSE Security Update for nodejs12 (openSUSE-SU-2021:1574-1)
  • 751518 OpenSUSE Security Update for nodejs14 (openSUSE-SU-2021:1552-1)
  • 940448 AlmaLinux Security Update for nodejs:14 (ALSA-2022:0350)
  • 960863 Rocky Linux Security Update for nodejs:14 (RLSA-2022:0350)
  • 980152 Nodejs (npm) Security Update for tar (GHSA-qq89-hq3f-393p)
© CVE.report 2026 |

Use of this information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are NO warranties, implied or otherwise, with regard to this information or its use. Any use of this information is at the user's risk. It is the responsibility of user to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content. EACH USER WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY consequences of his or her direct or indirect use of this web site. ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. This site will NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT or any other kind of loss.

CVE, CWE, and OVAL are registred trademarks of The MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CVE content is MITRE's CVE web site. This site includes MITRE data granted under the following license.

CVE.report and Source URL Uptime Status status.cve.report