USN-8138-1: tar-rs vulnerability

Publication date

1 April 2026

Overview

tar-rs could be made to modify permissions on arbitrary directories.


Packages

  • rust-tar - A tar archive reading/writing library for Rust

Details

It was discovered that tar-rs incorrectly handled symlinks when unpacking a
tar archive. If a user or automated system were tricked into processing a
specially crafted tar archive, a remote attacker could use this issue to
modify permissions of arbitrary directories outside the extraction root,
and possibly escalate privileges.

It was discovered that tar-rs incorrectly handled symlinks when unpacking a
tar archive. If a user or automated system were tricked into processing a
specially crafted tar archive, a remote attacker could use this issue to
modify permissions of arbitrary directories outside the extraction root,
and possibly escalate privileges.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
25.10 questing librust-tar-dev –  0.4.43-4ubuntu0.1
24.04 LTS noble librust-tar-dev –  0.4.40-1ubuntu0.1
22.04 LTS jammy librust-tar+default-dev –  0.4.37-3ubuntu0.1
librust-tar-dev –  0.4.37-3ubuntu0.1

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