CVE Database›CVE-2019-14866

CVE-2019-14866

cpio: improper input validation when writing tar header fields leads to unexpected tar generation

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Severity

Moderate

Red Hat Product Security

6.7

CVSS 3.0

Review impact separately from score.

Published · August 30, 2019

Updated · November 21, 2025

Description

It was discovered cpio does not properly validate input files when generating TAR archives. When cpio is used to create TAR archives from paths an attacker can write to, the resulting archive may contain files with permissions the attacker did not have or in paths he did not have access to. Extracting those archives from a high-privilege user without carefully reviewing them may lead to the compromise of the system.

CVSS score applicability

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation

TAR archives should be inspected before being extracted and the extraction should be performed with the tar command or --no-absolute-filenames option if done with cpio. Moreover, it should be performed by a low-privilege user whenever possible, to prevent extraction of files that could compromise the system.

CVSS / CWE

CVSS 3.0 · 6.7
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE-20 · Improper Input Validation