CVE-2025-45582

What it is

GNU Tar through 1.35 allows file overwrite via directory traversal in crafted TAR archives, with a certain two-step process. First, the victim must extract an archive that contains a ../ symlink to a critical directory. Second, the victim must extract an archive that contains a critical file, specified via a relative pathname that begins with the symlink name and ends with that critical file's name. Here, the extraction follows the symlink and overwrites the critical file. This bypasses the protection mechanism of "Member name contains '..'" that would occur for a single TAR archive that attempted to specify the critical file via a ../ approach. For example, the first archive can contain "x -> ../../../../../home/victim/.ssh" and the second archive can contain x/authorized_keys. This can affect server applications that automatically extract any number of user-supplied TAR archives, and were relying on the blocking of traversal. This can also affect software installation processes in which "tar xf" is run more than once (e.g., when installing a package can automatically install two dependencies that are set up as untrusted tarballs instead of official packages). NOTE: the official GNU Tar manual has an otherwise-empty directory for each "tar xf" in its Security Rules of Thumb; however, third-party advice leads users to run "tar xf" more than once into the same directory.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine without logging in, but needs a user to act. Limited direct impact.

Exploit odds

0.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

No patch or advisory is linked yet. Look at mitigations or restrict exposure.

Timeline

1. 2025-07-11 17:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 09:25 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.5% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 4.1 MEDIUM (CVSS).
• Fix: none linked yet, which raises it.

Details

Published

2025-07-11 17:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 09:25 UTC

Exploit probability

0.5% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-24

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Gnu Tar < 1.35

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 4.1

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

High

Privileges needed

None

User interaction

Required

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

Low

Availability

Low

Is it in your code?

Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.

Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2025-45582.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2025-45582. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.

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