CVE-2026-79699

A flaw was found in the containers/storage library. A crafted tar archive containing a malicious whiteout header (e.g. victim/.wh.) can cause the extraction destination directory to be replaced with an arbitrary file when processed by storage/pkg/archive.UnpackLayer, ApplyLayer, or ApplyUncompressedLayer.

Red Hat container tools are not directly affected by this flaw, which primarily impacts external applications that directly call the containers/storage library API. Successful exploitation requires processing a specially crafted tar archive containing a malicious whiteout header, leading to the replacement of an extraction destination directory.

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 for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.