vulnerability / NVI-00013852 / Revision 1
node-tar: Uncontrolled recursion in mapHas/filesFilter allows uncatchable stack-overflow DoS via crafted long-path tar with member selection
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for tar. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
Published affected context helps an owner decide what evidence to gather. This report has not examined your application.
7.5 high
GitHub source severity; exploitability and local consequence require separate evidence.
As of · GitHub Advisory Database
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
tar
source listed<= 7.5.20
## Summary `node-tar` (npm `tar`) contains an uncontrolled-recursion stack-exhaustion DoS in the internal `mapHas` helper used by `filesFilter`. When a consumer calls `tar.t(...)` or `tar.x(...)` with a non-empty member-selection list, node-tar installs a filter that closes over the recursive `mapHas` (`src/list.ts:33-44`). `mapHas` walks an entry path upward one `path.dirname()` call per recursion **with no segment cap**. A single crafted tar with a GNU-`L` (or PAX-`x`) long-path header can deliver a path of tens of thousands of `/`-separated segments (up to `maxMetaEntrySize` = 1 MiB). The recursion overflows the call stack, throwing an uncatchable `RangeError` that terminates the Node process on async/streaming consumers. ## Root Cause `filesFilter` (`src/list.ts:27-51`) is installed whenever a caller passes a member-selection list (`src/list.ts:119-122`, `src/extract.ts:55-57`). Its filter is invoked at `src/parse.ts:253` (`entry.ignore = entry.ignore || !this.filter(entry.path, entry)`) inside `Parser[CONSUMEHEADER]` — and crucially **outside** the only try/catch in that method (which wraps `new Header` at `src/parse.ts:179-183`). `mapHas` recurses once per path segment with
03 / Response
What to do next
- investigate
Identify the exact component and deployed version, examine the linked publisher’s conditions, and retain evidence of any mitigation.
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04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
05 / Provenance
Sources you can inspect
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- GHSA-r292-9mhp-454m ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
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Public revision history
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- Revision 1 ·
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