CVE-2026-53655

June 22, 2026, 4:16 p.m.

6.9
Medium

Description

node-tar is a full-featured Tar for Node.js. Prior to 7.5.16, tar (node-tar) applies a PAX extended header's size= record (and other PAX overrides) to the next header entry of any type, including intermediary metadata headers such as a GNU long-name (L) or long-link (K) entry. Per POSIX pax, a PAX extended header (x) describes the next file entry, not the intermediary extension headers that may sit between the x header and the file it annotates. Because node-tar lets the PAX size override the byte length of an intervening L/K/x header, an attacker can desynchronize node-tar's stream cursor relative to every other mainstream tar implementation (GNU tar, libarchive/bsdtar, Python tarfile, and the now-fixed tar-rs / astral-tokio-tar). The result is a tar parser interpretation differential (CWE-436): a single crafted archive yields a different set of members under node-tar than under the reference tar tools. An attacker can use this to hide a member from one parser while it is visible to another, which defeats security tooling whose scanner and extractor disagree on archive contents (e.g. a malware/secret scanner that lists entries with one library while a downstream step extracts with another) This vulnerability is fixed in 7.5.16.

Product(s) Impacted

Vendor Product Versions
Node-tar
  • Node-tar
  • <7.5.16

Weaknesses

Common security weaknesses mapped to this vulnerability.

CWE-436
Interpretation Conflict
Product A handles inputs or steps differently than Product B, which causes A to perform incorrect actions based on its perception of B's state.

*CPE(s)

Affected systems and software identified for this CVE.

Type Vendor Product Version Update Edition Language Software Edition Target Software Target Hardware Other Information
a node-tar node-tar <7.5.16 / / / / / / /

CVSS Score

6.9 / 10

CVSS Data - 4.0

  • Attack Vector: LOCAL
  • Attack Complexity: LOW
  • Attack Requirements: NONE
  • Privileges Required: NONE
  • User Interaction: NONE
  • Scope:
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: HIGH
  • Availability Impact: NONE
  • Exploit Maturity: NOT_DEFINED
  • CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

    View Vector String

Timeline

Published: June 22, 2026, 4:16 p.m.
Last Modified: June 22, 2026, 4:16 p.m.

Status : Received

CVE has been recently published to the CVE List and has been received by the NVD.

More info

*Disclaimer: Some vulnerabilities do not have an associated CPE. To enhance the data, we use AI to infer CPEs based on CVE details. This is an automated process and might not always be accurate.