CVE-2026-59873

Description

A flaw was found in node-tar, a tar archive manipulation library for Node.js. This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to craft a small gzip bomb, which, when processed, can lead to the exhaustion of disk space and CPU resources. This occurs because node-tar does not enforce strict limits on the total decompressed data, the number of entries, or the decompression ratio during extraction and parsing. The primary impact is a Denial of Service (DoS), making the affected system or application unavailable.

Statement

This vulnerability in node-tar is rated as Important. A remote attacker can exploit the lack of strict limits on decompressed data and entry counts within the library's archive processing to craft a gzip bomb. This can lead to a denial of service by exhausting system resources such as disk space and CPU, making the affected system or application unavailable without requiring authentication.

Mitigation

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.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score7.57.5N/A
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkN/A
Attack ComplexityLowLowN/A
Privileges RequiredNoneNoneN/A
User InteractionNoneNoneN/A
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityNoneNoneN/A
Integrity ImpactNoneNoneN/A
Availability ImpactHighHighN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)

When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.