{"id":"CVE-2018-20482","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2018-20482","generatedAt":"2026-10-29T04:56:00.398Z","title":"GNU Tar through 1.30, when --sparse is used, mishandles file shrinkage during read access, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (infinite read loop in sparse_dump_region in sparse.c) by modifying a file that is supposed to be archived…","description":"GNU Tar through 1.30, when --sparse is used, mishandles file shrinkage during read access, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (infinite read loop in sparse_dump_region in sparse.c) by modifying a file that is supposed to be archived by a different user's process (e.g., a system backup running as root).","published":"2018-12-26T18:29:00.000Z","lastModified":"2026-10-14T07:16:44.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"cve@mitre.org","cvss":{"version":"3.1","score":4.7,"severity":"MEDIUM","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"},"cwe":["CWE-835"],"affected":["gnu/tar","debian/debian linux","opensuse/leap"],"epss":{"score":0.0053,"percentile":0.44718,"date":"2026-10-28","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"low","text":"Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.53%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=c15c42ccd1e2377945fd0414eca1a49294bff454","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2018-12/msg00023.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-04/msg00077.html","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106354","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/12/msg00023.html","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/11/msg00025.html","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18745431","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-05","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://twitter.com/thatcks/status/1076166645708668928","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/sysadmin/TarFindingTruncateBug","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=c15c42ccd1e2377945fd0414eca1a49294bff454","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2018-12/msg00023.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-04/msg00077.html","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106354","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/12/msg00023.html","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/11/msg00025.html","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18745431","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-05","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://twitter.com/thatcks/status/1076166645708668928","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/sysadmin/TarFindingTruncateBug","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html","source":"0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-20482","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}