CVE-2026-59875: node-tar: Uncaught Exception DoS via NUL byte in PAX path/linkpath records

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-07-08 · updated 2026-10-25
Weakness: CWE-248

Description

node-tar is a tar archive manipulation library for Node.js. Prior to 7.5.17, node-tar does not strip NUL bytes from PAX path and linkpath records in src/pax.ts, allowing a crafted archive with values to reach fs.lstat or fs.open and terminate the process with an uncaught exception. This issue is fixed in version 7.5.17.

Affected products

Npm Tar: before 7.5.17 — fixed in 7.5.17
isaacs node-tar: before 7.5.17

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Npm Tar 7.5.17. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/7a635c29f5edbf083557374d43984273ecfed5b3
https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/releases/tag/v7.5.17
https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-gvwx-54wh-qm9j
https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-gvwx-54wh-qm9j

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