CVE-2025-58183 is a resource exhaustion vulnerability classified under CWE-400, found in the Go standard library's archive/tar package. Specifically, the tar.Reader component does not impose a maximum limit on the number of sparse region data blocks when processing GNU tar pax 1.0 sparse files. Sparse files represent data with large empty regions, and the pax 1.0 format allows multiple sparse regions to be described. An attacker can craft a tar archive with an excessive number of sparse regions, causing the tar.Reader to allocate memory for each region without bounds. When the archive is read from a compressed source, the small compressed input can expand into a very large memory allocation, amplifying the impact. This uncontrolled resource consumption can lead to denial of service by exhausting system memory, potentially crashing the application or host system. The vulnerability affects Go standard library versions from 0 up to 1.25.0. No official patch links are currently provided, and no known exploits have been reported in the wild as of the publication date. The vulnerability is particularly relevant for applications that accept and process tar archives from untrusted sources, such as CI/CD pipelines, container image processing, or file upload services implemented in Go. Since the Go standard library is widely used, this vulnerability has broad implications for software supply chains and cloud-native environments.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-58183 can be significant, especially for those using Go-based applications that handle tar archives, such as container registries, cloud platforms, and software build systems. Exploitation can lead to denial of service conditions by exhausting memory resources, causing application crashes or degraded performance. This can disrupt critical services, delay deployments, or cause outages in production environments. Organizations processing untrusted or user-supplied tar files are at higher risk. The vulnerability could also be leveraged as part of a multi-stage attack to weaken defenses or cause operational disruption. Given the widespread adoption of Go in cloud-native and microservices architectures, the threat surface is broad. The absence of known exploits suggests limited immediate risk, but the potential for future exploitation remains. European entities with stringent uptime and availability requirements, such as financial institutions, healthcare providers, and public sector organizations, could face operational and reputational damage if affected.

To mitigate CVE-2025-58183, European organizations should: 1) Upgrade the Go standard library to a version where this vulnerability is patched once available; monitor official Go project channels for updates. 2) Implement input validation and limit the size and complexity of tar archives accepted from untrusted sources, including restricting the number of sparse regions if possible. 3) Employ resource usage monitoring and limits (e.g., memory quotas, container resource limits) to prevent excessive memory consumption during archive processing. 4) Use sandboxing or isolated environments for processing untrusted tar files to contain potential denial of service impacts. 5) Consider alternative libraries or tools for tar extraction that have built-in protections against sparse file abuse until the Go library is patched. 6) Conduct code audits and security reviews of internal applications that utilize the Go archive/tar package to identify and remediate unsafe usage patterns. 7) Educate developers and DevOps teams about this vulnerability to raise awareness and encourage secure coding and operational practices.