CVE-2002-0399
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedDirectory traversal vulnerability in GNU tar 1.13.19 through 1.13.25, and possibly later versions, allows attackers to overwrite arbitrary files during archive extraction via a (1) "/.." or (2) "./.." string, which removes the leading slash but leaves the "..", a variant of CVE-2001-1267.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceDirectory traversal vulnerability in GNU tar versions 1.13.19-1.13.25 allows attackers to overwrite arbitrary files during archive extraction by embedding '/..' or './..' sequences in archive paths, which removes the leading slash but retains '..', enabling escape from the intended extraction directory.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 1.13.25CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed GNU tar versionRun 'tar --version' or 'rpm -q tar' (RPM-based) or 'dpkg -l tar' (Debian-based) to determine the exact version numberAffected if Version is 1.13.25 or falls within the 1.13.19-1.13.25 range
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Confirm extraction functionality is in useReview any scripts, workflows, or processes that use 'tar -x', 'tar --extract', or 'tar -xvf' commands to extract archives from untrusted or external sourcesAffected if GNU tar is used to extract archives, especially from untrusted sources containing user-supplied pathnames
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Check for archive content validationInspect extraction scripts or processes to determine whether archive contents are validated (e.g., checked for path traversal patterns like '../' or '..' path components) before extraction occursAffected if No pre-extraction validation of archive path contents is performed before tar extraction runs
User is affected if GNU tar version 1.13.25 (or versions 1.13.19-1.13.25) is installed and used to extract archives without prior content validation, as the directory traversal vulnerability allows writing files outside the intended extraction directory.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade GNU tar to a version newer than 1.13.25, or implement strict extraction directory controls and archive content validation before extraction to prevent writes outside the target directory.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-0399 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sources- www.iss.net
- distro.conectiva.com.br
- marc.info
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- sunsolve.sun.com
- sunsolve.sun.com
- www.linuxsecurity.com
- www.mandriva.com
- www.novell.com
- www.novell.com
- www.redhat.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- issues.rpath.com
- nvd.nist.gov
Practitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2002-0399 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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