High severity · published May 26, 2026
CVE-2026-42497
Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract hardlinks to attacker controlled paths outside the extraction directory
7.5
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract hardlinks to attacker controlled paths outside the extraction directory.
_make_special_file() passes the tar header's linkname to link() without validating it against absolute paths or .. segments, creating a hardlink that shares the victim file's inode.
A subsequent write through the extracted name modifies the victim file, and the post-extraction chmod, chown, and utime block in _extract_file() (guarded only against symlinks via -l) applies the tar header's mode, owner, and timestamps to the shared inode during extraction alone.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 40% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AR
Archive::Tar · BINGOS
before 3.08 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42497
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-42497
Patch
https://github.com/jib/archive-tar-new/commit/17c873492a05eddc0de18c1485e0b2cccd5a9158.patch
Release Notes
https://metacpan.org/release/BINGOS/Archive-Tar-3.08/changes
Third Party Advisory
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-42496
More from Archive::Tar
9.1
CVE-2026-42496
Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract symlinks with attacker controlled targets outside the extraction directory
7.5
CVE-2026-9538
Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size field in tar header
