CVE-2024-28863 | node-tar vulnerable to denial of service while parsing a tar file due to lack of folders count validation

Exp

node-tar is a Tar for Node.js. node-tar prior to version 6.2.1 has no limit on the number of sub-folders created in the folder creation process. An attacker who generates a large number of sub-folders can consume memory on the system running node-tar and even crash the Node.js client within few seconds of running it using a path with too many sub-folders inside. Version 6.2.1 fixes this issue by preventing extraction in excessively deep sub-folders.

Published: 2024-03-21 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-28863 is rated High Exploit Risk (60.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.93%). 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-2024-28863

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-28863

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 2026-06-15 0.66% 0.93% +0.27%
2 2026-05-22 0.65% 0.66% +0.01%
3 2026-04-09 — 0.65% —

Full EPSS history (20 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-28863

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-28863

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-28863

GHSA-f5x3-32g6-xq36 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: npm — Denial of service while parsing a tar file due to lack of folders count validation

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-28863

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2024-28863: 1 source package rows (tar); 33 state rows across 6 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, 3.23-main, edge-main); fixed 33, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-28863
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-28863 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (node-tar), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-28863
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-28863
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-28863 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (node-tar), 11 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, needed 2, ignored 1, needs-triage 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-28863

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-28863

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
isaacs tar < 6.2.1 cpe:2.3:a:isaacs:tar:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*

References for CVE-2024-28863

cvelogic Threat Intelligence