CVE-2016-6321

Exp

Directory traversal vulnerability in the safer_name_suffix function in GNU tar 1.14 through 1.29 might allow remote attackers to bypass an intended protection mechanism and write to arbitrary files via vectors related to improper sanitization of the file_name parameter, aka POINTYFEATHER.

Published: 2016-12-09 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-6321 is rated High Exploit Risk (73.8/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 14.26%, 95th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2016-6321

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-6321

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-29 18.58% 14.26% -4.32%
2 2026-05-22 11.14% 18.58% +7.44%
3 2026-01-23 — 11.14% —

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-6321

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-6321

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-6321

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2016-6321: 1 source package rows (tar); 10 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2016-6321
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-6321 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (tar), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-6321
gentoo normal CVE-2016-6321: 1 GLSA(s) (201611-19), 1 atom(s) (app-arch/tar); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-6321
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-6321
suse medium CVE-2016-6321 severity moderate: SUSE including 278 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 377 product×package rows across 82 product lines (Image SLES12-SP4-Azure-BYOS, Image SLES12-SP4-EC2-HVM-BYOS, … (82 product lines)): Fixed 192, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 28. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-6321/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-6321 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (tar), 6 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): released 5, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-6321

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-6321

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu tar 1.14 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.14:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.15 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.15:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.15.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.15.90 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.15.90:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.15.91 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.15.91:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.16 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.16:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.16.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.16.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.17 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.17:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.18 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.18:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.19 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.19:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.20 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.20:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.21 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.21:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.22 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.22:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.23 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.23:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.24 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.24:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.25 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.25:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.26 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.26:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.27 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.27:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.27.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.27.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.28 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.28:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu tar 1.29 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:tar:1.29:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-6321

URL Tags
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=7340f67b9860ea0531c1450e5aa261c50f67165d Issue Tracking Patch
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2016-10/msg00016.html Mailing List Vendor Advisory
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/139370/GNU-tar-1.29-Extract-Pathname-Bypass.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/102 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/96 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3702
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93937 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3132-1
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201611-19
https://sintonen.fi/advisories/tar-extract-pathname-bypass.proper.txt Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence