USN-3132-1: tar vulnerability

Publication date

21 November 2016

Overview

tar could be made to overwrite files.


Packages

  • tar - GNU version of the tar archiving utility

Details

Harry Sintonen discovered that tar incorrectly handled extracting files
when path names are specified on the command line. If a user or automated
system were tricked into processing a specially crafted archive, an
attacker could possibly overwrite arbitrary files.

Harry Sintonen discovered that tar incorrectly handled extracting files
when path names are specified on the command line. If a user or automated
system were tricked into processing a specially crafted archive, an
attacker could possibly overwrite arbitrary files.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
16.10 yakkety tar –  1.29b-1ubuntu0.1
16.04 xenial tar –  1.28-2.1ubuntu0.1
14.04 trusty tar –  1.27.1-1ubuntu0.1
12.04 precise tar –  1.26-4ubuntu1.1

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