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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2016-6321

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2016-12-09
  • WeaknessCWE-22

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

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.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2016-12-0922:59CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2026-10-2319:23EPSS crossed 10 %FIRST EPSS

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2016-6321?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2016-6321?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Gnu tar
BranchAffectedFixed in
1.14= 1.14no fix published
1.15= 1.15no fix published
1.15= 1.15.1no fix published
1.15= 1.15.90no fix published
1.15= 1.15.91no fix published
1.16= 1.16no fix published
1.16= 1.16.1no fix published
1.17= 1.17no fix published
1.18= 1.18no fix published
1.19= 1.19no fix published
1.20= 1.20no fix published
1.21= 1.21no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionpoc2025-08-06
  • OpenCVESSVC decisionpoc—
  • CISA-ADPCVSS 3.17.52025-08-06
  • NVDCVSS 3.07.5read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.05read 2026-10-23
  • CISA-ADPweakness (CWE)CWE-222025-08-06
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-22read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score15.7 %read 2026-10-23

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Published
2016-12-09
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-6321?

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.

Is CVE-2016-6321 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2016-6321, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2016-6321?

CVE-2016-6321 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N.

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