Back
CVE-2018-20482
GNU Tar through 1.30, when --sparse is used, mishandles file shrinkage during read access, which allows local users to cause a denial of…
Medium4.7EPSS 0.53%
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- mitre
Description
GNU Tar through 1.30, when --sparse is used, mishandles file shrinkage during read access, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (infinite read loop in sparse_dump_region in sparse.c) by modifying a file that is supposed to be archived by a different user's process (e.g., a system backup running as root).
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium4.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.53% · top 55% of all CVEs (3 Nov 2026)
Loading the EPSS history…
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.7.
Weakness
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References (11)
- https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/sysadmin/TarFindingTruncateBug (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=c15c42ccd1e2377945fd0414eca1a49294bff454 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20181231 [SECURITY] [DLA 1623-1] tar security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18745431 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 106354 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- GLSA-201903-05 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
- http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2018-12/msg00023.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://twitter.com/thatcks/status/1076166645708668928 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2019:1237 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20211128 [SECURITY] [DLA 2830-1] tar security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2018-20482)Record last updated .