Medium severity · published Mar 9, 2026
CVE-2026-31802
node-tar Symlink Path Traversal via Drive-Relative Linkpath
5.5
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
node-tar is a full-featured Tar for Node.js. Prior to version 7.5.11, tar (npm) can be tricked into creating a symlink that points outside the extraction directory by using a drive-relative symlink target such as C:../../../target.txt, which enables file overwrite outside cwd during normal tar.x() extraction. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.5.11.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.3% · higher than 19% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
NO
node-tar · isaacs
< 7.5.11 · source: vendor
TA
Tar · Isaacs
before 7.5.11 · source: NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31802
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-31802
Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/f48b5fa3b7985ddab96dc0f2125a4ffc9911b6ad
Exploit
https://github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-9ppj-qmqm-q256
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