CVE-2021-37712
8.2 · HIGHOverview
CVE-2021-37712 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting npmjs tar. It was published on August 31, 2021 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.2 (HIGH).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.2, rated HIGH. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 4.4.18, 5.0.10, and 6.1.9 has an arbitrary file creation/overwrite and arbitrary code execution vulnerability. node-tar aims to guarantee that any file whose location would be modified by a symbolic link is not extracted. This is, in part, achieved by ensuring that extracted directories are not symlinks. Additionally, in order to prevent unnecessary stat calls to determine whether a given path is a directory, paths are cached when directories are created. This logic was insufficient when extracting tar files that contained both a directory and a symlink with names containing unicode values that normalized to the same value. Additionally, on Windows systems, long path portions would resolve to the same file system entities as their 8.3 "short path" counterparts. A specially crafted tar archive could thus include a directory with one form of the path, followed by a symbolic link with a different string that resolves to the same file sy
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from npmjs. Update tar to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| npmjs | tar | 0 | Affected |
| siemens | sinec_infrastructure_network_services | >= 0, < 1.0.1.1 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2021-37712?
CVE-2021-37712 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting npmjs tar. It was published on August 31, 2021 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.2 (HIGH).
How severe is CVE-2021-37712?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.2, rated HIGH. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2021-37712?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from npmjs. Update tar to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2021-37712?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2021-37712 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
AI agents map your attack surface to find vulnerabilities like this one.
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