CVE-2016-6321

Publication date 28 October 2016

Last updated 7 August 2025

Ubuntu priority

Medium

Why this priority?

Cvss 3 Severity Score

7.5 · High

Score breakdown

Description

Directory traversal vulnerability in the safer_name_suffix function in GNU tar 1.14 through 1.29 might allow remote attackers to bypass an intended protection mechanism and write to arbitrary files via vectors related to improper sanitization of the file_name parameter, aka POINTYFEATHER.

Status

Package Ubuntu Release Status
tar 17.04 zesty
Not affected
16.10 yakkety
Fixed 1.29b-1ubuntu0.1
16.04 LTS xenial
Fixed 1.28-2.1ubuntu0.1
14.04 LTS trusty
Fixed 1.27.1-1ubuntu0.1
12.04 LTS precise
Fixed 1.26-4ubuntu1.1

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package Patch details
tar

Severity score breakdown

Parameter Value
Base score 7.5 · High
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality None
Integrity impact High
Availability impact None
Vector CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

References

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

Other references