CVE-2024-12905
Description
An Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ("Link Following") and Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ("Path Traversal"). This vulnerability occurs when extracting a maliciously crafted tar file, which can result in unauthorized file writes or overwrites outside the intended extraction directory. The issue is associated with index.js in the tar-fs package. This issue affects tar-fs: from 0.0.0 before 1.16.4, from 2.0.0 before 2.1.2, from 3.0.0 before 3.0.8.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
✚ Propose a mitigation on Community → Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
Exploits
Public proof-of-concept code below. AS-IS, for defenders and authorised testing only.
Exploit-DB
tar-fs 3.0.0 - Arbitrary File Write/Overwrite
OS impact
Debian Fixed 5 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| trixie | Fixed | 3.0.8+~cs2.0.4-1 |
| sid | Fixed | 3.0.8+~cs2.0.4-1 |
| forky | Fixed | 3.0.8+~cs2.0.4-1 |
| bullseye | Fixed | 2.1.3-0+deb11u1 |
| bookworm | Fixed | 2.1.3-0+deb12u1 |
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-12905
- https://github.com/mafintosh/tar-fs/commit/a1dd7e7c7f4b4a8bd2ab60f513baca573b44e2ed
- https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.04962
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.04962
- https://github.com/mafintosh/tar-fs
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/06/msg00012.html
- https://www.seal.security/blog/a-link-to-the-past-uncovering-a-new-vulnerability-in-tar-fs
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-12905
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.