CVE-2016-6321
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…
Does this matter?
EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 15.7%, higher than 97% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window.
Description
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.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- EPSS
- 15.75% probability · 97th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-22
- Affected
- gnu/tar
- Source
- secalert@redhat.com
EPSS moved from 14.1% on 21 September 2026 to 15.7% on 4 November 2026. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”.
References
- http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=7340f67b9860ea0531c1450e5aa261c50f67165dIssue Tracking, Patch
- http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2016-10/msg00016.htmlMailing List, Vendor Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/139370/GNU-tar-1.29-Extract-Pathname-Bypass.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/102Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/96Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3702
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93937Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3132-1
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201611-19
- https://sintonen.fi/advisories/tar-extract-pathname-bypass.proper.txtThird Party Advisory
- http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=7340f67b9860ea0531c1450e5aa261c50f67165dIssue Tracking, Patch
- http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2016-10/msg00016.htmlMailing List, Vendor Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/139370/GNU-tar-1.29-Extract-Pathname-Bypass.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/102Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/96Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3702
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93937Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3132-1
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201611-19
- https://sintonen.fi/advisories/tar-extract-pathname-bypass.proper.txtThird Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.