In GNU tar before 1.35, mishandled extension attributes in a PAX archive can lead to an application crash in xheader.c.
Priority LOW 27Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In GNU tar before 1.35, mishandled extension attributes in a PAX archive can lead to an application crash in xheader.c.
Why it matters now
Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00283 20th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | — |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-39804
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-5pvw-wf9w-xx8v
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
More GNU Tar vulnerabilities
- TI-2019-07294 pax_decode_header in sparse.c in GNU Tar before 1.32 had a NULL pointer dereference when… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2016-05412 Directory traversal vulnerability in the safer_name_suffix function in GNU tar 1.14… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2022-23920 GNU Tar through 1.34 has a one-byte out-of-bounds read that results in use of… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.5
- TI-2025-28801 Path traversal in GNU Tar CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 4.1
- TI-2005-02406 Tar 1.15.1 does not properly warn the user when extracting setuid or setgid files, which… CVSS 2.0HIGH 10.0
- TI-2007-04334 Buffer overflow in the safer_name_suffix function in GNU tar has unspecified attack… CVSS 2.0HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2023-39804 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-39804 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-5pvw-wf9w-xx8v · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-39804 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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