NVD / CVE Program· CNA redhat

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…

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 35/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 15.7% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 96.9% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
Fixed version: tar (Alpine:v3.10) 1.29-r1; tar (Debian:12) 1.29b-1.1; tar (Debian:7) 1.26+dfsg-0.1+deb7u1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to tar (Alpine:v3.10) 1.29-r1; tar (Debian:12) 1.29b-1.1; tar (Debian:7) 1.26+dfsg-0.1+deb7u1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

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.

Published: Dec 9, 2016
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 15.7% · 96th percentile
CWE: CWE-22

Report tools

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Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 5 / 30 · 15.7%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: proof of concept
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
gnu	tar	cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

gnu tar1.14
gnu tar1.15
gnu tar1.15.1
gnu tar1.15.90
gnu tar1.15.91
gnu tar1.16
gnu tar1.16.1
gnu tar1.17

+12 more rows

gnu tar1.18
gnu tar1.19
gnu tar1.20
gnu tar1.21
gnu tar1.22
gnu tar1.23
gnu tar1.24
gnu tar1.25
gnu tar1.26
gnu tar1.27
gnu tar1.27.1
gnu tar1.28

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
Alpine:v3.10	tar	before 1.29-r1	1.29-r1
Debian:12	tar	before 1.29b-1.1	1.29b-1.1
Debian:7	tar	before 1.26+dfsg-0.1+deb7u1	1.26+dfsg-0.1+deb7u1
Debian:8	tar	before 1.27.1-2+deb8u1	1.27.1-2+deb8u1
openSUSE:Tumbleweed	tar	before 1.29-2.1	1.29-2.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1	tar	before 1.27.1-11.1	1.27.1-11.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4	tar	before 1.26-1.2.10.1	1.26-1.2.10.1

Same product

gnu: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2005-2541Tar 1.15.1 does not properly warn the user when extracting setuid or setgid files, which may allow local users or remote attackers to gain…
41Plan
CVE-2007-4476Buffer overflow in the safer_name_suffix function in GNU tar has unspecified attack vectors and impact, resulting in a "crashing stack."
34Monitor
CVE-2019-9923pax_decode_header in sparse.c in GNU Tar before 1.32 had a NULL pointer dereference when parsing certain archives that have malformed…
31Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2006-6097Nov 24, 2006 · GNU tar 1.16 and 1.15.1, and possibly other versions, allows user-assisted attackers to overwrite arbitrary files via a tar file that…
20Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2007-4131Aug 24, 2007 · Directory traversal vulnerability in the contains_dot_dot function in src/names.c in GNU tar allows user-assisted remote attackers to…
28Monitor
Later →CVE-2018-20482Dec 26, 2018 · GNU Tar through 1.30, when --sparse is used, mishandles file shrinkage during read access, which allows local users to cause a denial of…
18Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
alpine:tar	1.29-r1 · Alpine:v3.10	Package registry (OSV)
debian:tar	1.29b-1.1 · Debian:12	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:tar	1.29-2.1 · openSUSE:Tumbleweed	Package registry (OSV)
suse:tar	1.26-1.2.10.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

git.savannah.gnu.orgpatch

Not on record for this CVE: researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: none
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: none

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: None
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: None

Weakness class (CWE)

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

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

nvd-secondary

Root cause

A user-supplied file name is joined with the allowed directory, but the result is never checked to confirm it is still inside that directory.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-22 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const file = path.join(ROOT, req.query.name);
2res.sendFile(file);

Fixed

1const file = path.resolve(ROOT, req.query.name);
2if (!file.startsWith(ROOT + path.sep)) {
3  return res.sendStatus(400);
4}
5res.sendFile(file);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log (1)

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:46 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=7340f67b9860ea0531c1450e5aa261c50f67165d

Show all references (10 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records