GHSA-5955-9wpr-37jh · Severity: high · Ecosystem: npm — Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite on Windows via insufficient relative path sanitization
The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 4.4.18, 5.0.10, and 6.1.9 has an arbitrary file creation/overwrite and arbitrary code execution vulnerability. node-tar aims to guarantee that any file whose location would be outside of the extraction target directory is not extracted. This is, in part, accomplished by sanitizing absolute paths of entries within the archive, skipping archive entries that contain `..` path portions, and resolving the sanitized paths against the extraction target directory. This logic was insufficient on Windows systems when extracting tar files that contained a path that was not an absolute path, but specified a drive letter different from the extraction target, such as `C:some\path`. If the drive letter does not match the extraction target, for example `D:\extraction\dir`, then the result of `path.resolve(extractionDirectory, entryPath)` would resolve against the current working directory on the `C:` drive, rather than the extraction target directory. Additionally, a `..` portion of the path could occur immediately after the drive letter, such as `C:../foo`, and was not properly sanitized by the logic that checked for `..` within the normalized and split portions of the path. This only affects users of `node-tar` on Windows systems. These issues were addressed in releases 4.4.18, 5.0.10 and 6.1.9. The v3 branch of node-tar has been deprecated and did not receive patches for these issues. If you are still using a v3 release we recommend you update to a more recent version of node-tar. There is no reasonable way to work around this issue without performing the same path normalization procedures that node-tar now does. Users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest patched versions of node-tar, rather than attempt to sanitize paths themselves.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-37713 is rated Moderate Risk (51.5/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.32%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 2026-03-03 | 0.61% | 0.32% | -0.29% |
| 2 | 2025-09-14 | 0.82% | 0.61% | -0.21% |
| 3 | 2025-09-12 | — | 0.82% | — |
Full EPSS history (15 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.2 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.8 | [email protected] |
| 8.6 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 6.0 | [email protected] |
| 4.4 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
3.4 | 6.4 | [email protected] |
GHSA-5955-9wpr-37jh · Severity: high · Ecosystem: npm — Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite on Windows via insufficient relative path sanitization
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
alpine
|
high | CVE-2021-37713: 1 source package rows (nodejs); 9 state rows across 9 repos (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 9, open 0. | https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-37713 |
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2021-37713 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (node-tar), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-37713 |
redhat
|
— | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-37713 |
suse
|
high | CVE-2021-37713 severity important: SUSE including 36 source package names (12-10.1:nodejs12-12.22.7-4.22.1, 12-10.1:npm12-12.22.7-4.22.1, …), 88 product×package rows across 11 product lines (Container bci/nodejs, SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Open Buildservice Development Tools 15 SP4, … (11 product lines)): Fixed 80, Known Not Affected 8. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-37713/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2021-37713 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (node-tar), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 7, ignored 5. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-37713 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| npmjs | tar | < 4.4.18 | cpe:2.3:a:npmjs:tar:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* |
| npmjs | tar | >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.10 | cpe:2.3:a:npmjs:tar:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* |
| npmjs | tar | >= 6.0.0, < 6.1.9 | cpe:2.3:a:npmjs:tar:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* |
| oracle | graalvm | 20.3.3 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:graalvm:20.3.3:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:* |
| oracle | graalvm | 21.2.0 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:graalvm:21.2.0:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:* |
| siemens | sinec_infrastructure_network_services | < 1.0.1.1 | cpe:2.3:a:siemens:sinec_infrastructure_network_services:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-389290.pdf | Patch Third Party Advisory |
| https://github.com/npm/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-5955-9wpr-37jh | Patch Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.npmjs.com/package/tar | Product Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html | Patch Third Party Advisory |