CVE-2026-53600
Received Received - Intake

Tar Archive Deserialization Issue in async-tar

Publication date: 2026-09-02

Last updated on: 2026-09-02

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description
async-tar is a tar archive reading/writing library for async Rust. Prior to version 0.6.1, async-tar mis-applies a buffered PAX size extension to an intermediary extension header (a GNU longname L, a GNU longlink K, or a PAX x/g header) instead of to the next file entry. POSIX requires a PAX extended-header record set to describe the next file entry, never an intervening extension header. Because poll_next_raw (src/archive.rs) threads the buffered PAX records into the size computation of whatever raw header it reads next — and that header can be an intermediary L — the stream cursor is advanced by an attacker-chosen amount when the L body is consumed. The parser then desyncs relative to a POSIX-correct tar parser (e.g. GNU tar), reading subsequent bytes at the wrong block boundary. This issue has been patched in version 0.6.1.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-09-02
Last Modified
2026-09-02
Generated
2026-09-02
AI Q&A
2026-09-02
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-53600
EUVD
EUVD-2026-70200

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
dignifiedquire async-tar to 0.6.1 (exc)
dignifiedquire async-tar 0.6.1

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-20 The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.
CWE-843 The product allocates or initializes a resource such as a pointer, object, or variable using one type, but it later accesses that resource using a type that is incompatible with the original type.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

async-tar before version 0.6.1 misapplies PAX size extensions to intermediary extension headers like GNU longname headers instead of the next file entry. This causes the parser to desync from POSIX-compliant parsers like GNU tar, leading to incorrect file extraction.

Impact Analysis

Attackers can craft malicious tar streams to smuggle unexpected files (e.g., scripts) by exploiting the parser desync. This bypasses security controls that scan with one parser but extract with async-tar, potentially leading to unauthorized code execution or data exposure.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized data access or code execution, violating integrity and confidentiality requirements in GDPR and HIPAA. Organizations using affected async-tar versions may fail compliance audits due to insufficient file validation.

Mitigation Strategies
  • Upgrade async-tar to version 0.6.1 or later to patch the vulnerability.
  • Review and update any systems or applications using async-tar to ensure they are not vulnerable to tar stream manipulation.
  • Implement additional validation for tar streams, especially if they are user-provided or from untrusted sources.

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