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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-26960: isaacs node-tar · Path Traversal

Affects isaacs node-tarSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High : upgrade to 7.5.8 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:29 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.1High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 25% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 7.5.8
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 20 Feb 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade isaacs node-tar to 7.5.8.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
isaacsnode-tarAffected
  • <7.5.8
Fixed in
  • 7.5.8

AI-suggested

The primary mitigation is to upgrade all instances of node-tar to version 7.5.8 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. Organizations should audit their codebases and dependencies to identify and update vulnerable versions. Additionally, implement strict validation and sanitization of archive contents before extraction, especially when archives originate from untrusted sources. Employ the principle of least privilege by running extraction processes with minimal permissions to limit potential damage. Use containerization or sandboxing to isolate extraction environments. Monitor logs and file system changes for suspicious activity related to archive extraction. Incorporate security scanning tools that detect vulnerable dependencies and enforce automated patching in CI/CD pipelines to prevent future exposure.

Description

node-tar is a full-featured Tar for Node.js. When using default options in versions 7.5.7 and below, an attacker-controlled archive can create a hardlink inside the extraction directory that points to a file outside the extraction root, enabling arbitrary file read and write as the extracting user. Severity is high because the primitive bypasses path protections and turns archive extraction into a direct filesystem access primitive. This issue has been fixed in version 7.5.8.

References

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