Memory leak in GNU Tar

1) Memory leak

EUVDB-ID: #VU50978

Risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 4 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2021-20193

CWE-ID: CWE-401 - Missing release of memory after effective lifetime

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform DoS attack on the target system.

The vulnerability exists due memory leak within the read_header() function in list.c. A remote attacker can pass specially crafted archive to the application and force it to leak memory, which eventually results in a denial of service condition.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Tar: 1.0 - 1.33

CPE2.3

• cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

External links

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1917565
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?59897
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=d9d4435692150fa8ff68e1b1a473d187cc3fd777

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

How the attacker can exploit this vulnerability?

The attacker would have to trick the victim to open a a specially crafted archive.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.