What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-42496: Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract symlinks with attacker controlled targets outside the extraction directory

• Severity: critical (CVSS 9.1 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-05-26 · updated 2026-07-24
• Weakness: CWE-59

Description

Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract symlinks with attacker controlled targets outside the extraction directory. _make_special_file() passes the tar header's linkname to symlink() without validating it against absolute paths or .. segments. The secure-extract mode check that guards regular file extraction does not cover the symlink target. A subsequent open through the extracted name reads or writes the attacker chosen path.

Affected products

• Archive::Tar Project Archive::Tar: before 3.08 — fixed in 3.08

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Archive::Tar Project Archive::Tar 3.08. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/jib/archive-tar-new/commit/17c873492a05eddc0de18c1485e0b2cccd5a9158.patch
• https://metacpan.org/release/BINGOS/Archive-Tar-3.08/changes
• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-42497
• https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:30851
• https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:30852
• https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:30856
• https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:30857
• https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-42496
• https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2481314
• https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-42496.json

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