How severe is CVE-2020-36193?

CVE-2020-36193 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-36193?

CVE-2020-36193 affects the following packages: pear/archive_tar (Packagist). Ecosystems affected: Packagist.

How do I fix CVE-2020-36193?

Update pear/archive_tar to version 1.4.13 or later. Run your dependency manager's update command and verify no transitive dependencies pin the vulnerable version. Use O3 Security's SCA scanner to confirm the fix is applied across your entire dependency tree.

Is CVE-2020-36193 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for CVE-2020-36193, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-36193?

CVE-2020-36193 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 71.1%, placing it in the 99th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2020-36193 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2020-36193 (PEAR Archive_Tar Improper Link Resolution Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-08-25. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-09-15. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-36193?

CVE-2020-36193 is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22), CWE-59 (CWE-59). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2020-36193 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-36193 was published on January 18, 2021 and was last updated on April 16, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2022-08-25 — agencies required to remediate by 2022-09-15

🐘 Packagist

CVE-2020-36193

HIGH

Directory Traversal in Archive_Tar

Also known asBIT-drupal-2020-36193GHSA-rpw6-9xfx-jvcx

Published

Jan 18, 2021

Updated

Apr 16, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

2 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

71.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk99th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

🐘pear/archive_tar

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Tar.php in Archive_Tar through 1.4.11 allows write operations with Directory Traversal due to inadequate checking of symbolic links, a related issue to CVE-2020-28948.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐘Packagist	`pear/archive_tar`	all versions	1.4.13

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

Tar.php in Archive_Tar through 1.4.11 allows write operations with Direc…

unit42.paloaltonetworks.comAPIAug 2022

Tar.php in Archive_Tar through 1.4.11 allows write operations with Direc…

cisa.govCISAAug 2022

Frequently Asked Questions

Tar.php in Archive_Tar through 1.4.11 allows write operations with Directory Traversal due to inadequate checking of symbolic links, a related issue to CVE-2020-28948.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2020-36193 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2020-36193 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my stack How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

7.5/10

CVSS v3 base score

Vector breakdown

AV:Attack Vector

Network

AC:Attack Complexity

Low

PR:Privileges Required

None

UI:User Interaction