GLSA 200603-06: GNU tar: Buffer overflow

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	GNU tar: Buffer overflow
Date:	03/10/2006
Bugs:	#123038
ID:	200603-06

Synopsis

A malicious tar archive could trigger a Buffer overflow in GNU tar, potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.

Background

GNU tar is the standard GNU utility for creating and manipulating tar archives, a common format used for creating backups and distributing files on UNIX-like systems.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-arch/tar	< 1.15.1-r1	>= 1.15.1-r1	All supported architectures

Description

Jim Meyering discovered a flaw in the handling of certain header fields that could result in a buffer overflow when extracting or listing the contents of an archive.

Impact

A remote attacker could construct a malicious tar archive that could potentially execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running GNU tar.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All GNU tar users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-arch/tar-1.15.1-r1"

References

CVE-2006-0300

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200603-06.xml

Concerns?

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at https://bugs.gentoo.org.