CVE-2016-6321

GNU tar 1.29 Extract Pathname Bypass

Severity Score

7.5

*CVSS v3

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

*KEV

Decision

*SSVC

Descriptions

Directory traversal vulnerability in the safer_name_suffix function in GNU tar 1.14 through 1.29 might allow remote attackers to bypass an intended protection mechanism and write to arbitrary files via vectors related to improper sanitization of the file_name parameter, aka POINTYFEATHER.

Vulnerabilidad de salto de directorio en la función safer_name_suffix en GNU tar 1.14 hasta la versión 1.29 podrían permitir a atacantes remotos eludir un mecanismo de protección previsto y escribir en archivos arbitarios a través de vectores relacionados con una desinfección inadecuada del parámetro file_name, también conocida como POINTYFEATHER.

Harry Sintonen discovered that tar incorrectly handled extracting files when path names are specified on the command line. If a user or automated system were tricked into processing a specially crafted archive, an attacker could possibly overwrite arbitrary files.

*Credits: N/A

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

High

Availability

None

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Authentication

None

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

Partial

Availability

None

* Common Vulnerability Scoring System

SSVC

Decision:-

Exploitation

Automatable

Tech. Impact

* Organization's Worst-case Scenario

Timeline

2016-07-26 CVE Reserved
2016-10-27 CVE Published
2016-10-27 First Exploit
2024-08-06 CVE Updated
2025-03-30 EPSS Updated
---------- Exploited in Wild
---------- KEV Due Date

CWE

CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

CAPEC

References (13)

URL	Tag	Source
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/96	Mailing List
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93937	Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E	Mailing List
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E	Mailing List
https://sintonen.fi/advisories/tar-extract-pathname-bypass.proper.txt	Third Party Advisory

URL	Date	SRC
https://packetstorm.news/files/id/139370	2016-10-27
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/139370/GNU-tar-1.29-Extract-Pathname-Bypass.html	2024-08-06

URL	Date	SRC
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=7340f67b9860ea0531c1450e5aa261c50f67165d	2023-02-13
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/102	2023-02-13

URL	Date	SRC
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2016-10/msg00016.html	2023-02-13
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3702	2023-02-13
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3132-1	2023-02-13
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201611-19	2023-02-13

Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions

Vendor		Product				Version		Other		Status
Vendor	Product	Version	Other	Status	<-- -->	Vendor	Product	Version	Other	Status
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.14 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.14"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.15 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.15"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.15.1 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.15.1"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.15.90 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.15.90"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.15.91 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.15.91"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.16 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.16"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.16.1 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.16.1"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.17 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.17"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.18 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.18"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.19 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.19"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.20 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.20"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.21 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.21"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.22 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.22"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.23 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.23"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.24 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.24"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.25 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.25"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.26 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.26"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.27 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.27"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.27.1 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.27.1"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.28 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.28"		-		Affected
Gnu Search vendor "Gnu"		Tar Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar"				1.29 Search vendor "Gnu" for product "Tar" and version "1.29"		-		Affected