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Medium, CVSS 6.5amended

Denial of service while parsing a tar file due to lack of folders count validation

CVE-2024-28863GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36

What to do

Vendor fix available. Upgrade each affected package to the fixed version on its release line (node-tar 6.2.1; tar 6.2.1), redeploy, then verify what is actually installed.

This page has no inventory attached, so it cannot say whether you are affected. A vendor fix is not proof that your deployment is fixed.

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Affected packages

  • npm node-tar

    Affected
    < 6.2.1
    Fixed in
    6.2.1

  • npm tar

    Affected
    < 6.2.1
    Fixed in
    6.2.1

Sources

Severity and exploitation
Exploitation
No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.
CVSS
6.5 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS
  • CVE-2024-28863: 0.93% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 60.63 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.
Source description

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Description: During some analysis today on npm's node-tar package I came across the folder creation process, Basicly if you provide node-tar with a path like this ./a/b/c/foo.txt it would create every folder and sub-folder here a, b and c until it reaches the last folder to create foo.txt, In-this case I noticed that there's no validation at all on the amount of folders being created, that said we're actually able to CPU and memory consume the system running node-tar and even crash the nodejs client within few seconds of running it using a path with too many sub-folders inside Steps To Reproduce: You can reproduce this issue by downloading the tar file I provided in the resources and using node-tar to extract it, you should get the same behavior as the video Proof Of Concept: Here's a video show-casing the exploit: Impact Denial of service by crashing the nodejs client when attempting to parse a tar archive, make it run out of heap memory and consuming server CPU and memory resources…

Dates and revisions
Published by the source
Last modified by the source
Source last checked
  1. Revision 2 · amended ·

    Amended from ghsa record GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36

  2. Revision 1 · created ·

    Published from osv record GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36

Agent brief

Preview the exact text before you copy it. Commands are read-only suggestions; review them before running anything.

# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2024-28863

Advisory: Denial of service while parsing a tar file due to lack of folders count validation
IDs: CVE-2024-28863, GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2024-28863 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:30 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 6.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: node-tar 6.2.1; tar 6.2.1. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm node-tar: affected < 6.2.1; fixed in 6.2.1
- npm tar: affected < 6.2.1; fixed in 6.2.1

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `npm ls node-tar --all`: lists every installed copy and version, including transitive ones. Run in the project root after `npm ci`.
- `npm ls tar --all`: lists every installed copy and version, including transitive ones. Run in the project root after `npm ci`.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on node-tar, tar.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36 (OSV record GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36 lists affected ranges: npm node-tar >=0 =0 <6.2.1 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36 lists affected ranges: npm node-tar >=0 =0 <6.2.1)

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