GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in tar-fs. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for tar-fs — see the affected versions and patch details below.
tar-fs Vulnerable to Link Following and Path Traversal via Extracting a Crafted tar File
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
tar-fsnpmDescription
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 3.0.7.
PoC
// Create a writable stream to extract the tar content
const extractStream = tarfs.extract('/', {
// We can ignore the file type checks to allow the extraction of the malicious file
ignore: (name) => false,
});
// Create a tar stream
const tarStream = tarfs.pack().on('error', (err) => {
throw err;
});
// Append the malicious entry to the tar stream
tarStream.entry({ name: '/flag.txt', mode: 0o644 }, Buffer.from('This is a flag!'));
// Finalize the tar stream
tarStream.finalize();
// Pipe the tar stream into the extract stream
tarStream.pipe(extractStream);
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | tar-fs | all versions | 1.16.4npm install tar-fs@1.16.4 |
| 📦npm | tar-fs | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.1.2 | 2.1.2npm install tar-fs@2.1.2 |
| 📦npm | tar-fs | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.0.7 | 3.0.7npm install tar-fs@3.0.7 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
tar-fs 3.0.0 - Arbitrary File Write/Overwrite
by cybersploit · Apr 22, 2025
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for tar-fs, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update tar-fs to 1.16.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This vulnerability is rated as an important severity because it allows attackers to extract a malicious tar file that can write or overwrite files outside the intended directory. This occurs due to improper handling of link resolution and pathname limitations. The risk is high for systems that automatically extract…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3 Containers | devspaces/pluginregistry-rhel9:3.20-6 | RHSA-2025:3932 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3 Containers | devspaces/code-rhel9:3.21-5 | RHSA-2025:8244 |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 7.1 | rhceph/rhceph-7-rhel9:1781863705 | RHSA-2026:33154 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.5 | rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9:1.5.2-1748495853 | RHSA-2025:8540 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.6 | rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9:1.6.0-1745956724 | RHSA-2025:7626 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-pq67-2wwv-3xjx across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.