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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2018-1000888

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2018-12-28
  • Fixed in1.4.4
  • WeaknessCWE-502

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

PEAR Archive_Tar version 1.4.3 and earlier contains a CWE-502, CWE-915 vulnerability in the Archive_Tar class. There are several file operations with `$v_header['filename']` as parameter (such as file_exists, is_file, is_dir, etc). When extract is called without a specific prefix path, we can trigger unserialization by crafting a tar file with `phar://[path_to_malicious_phar_file]` as path. Object injection can be used to trigger destruct in the loaded PHP classes, e.g. the Archive_Tar class itself. With Archive_Tar object injection, arbitrary file deletion can occur because `@unlink($this->_temp_tarname)` is called. If another class with useful gadget is loaded, it may possible to cause remote code execution that can result in files being deleted or possibly modified. This vulnerability appears to have been fixed in 1.4.4.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2019-01-10Exploit-DB entryExploit-DB

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-03 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-2018-1000888?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2018-1000888?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

OSV · NVD
pear/archive_tar
BranchAffectedFixed in
1.4< 1.4.41.4.4
Canonical ubuntu linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
16.4= 16.04no fix published
18.4= 18.04no fix published
18.10= 18.10no fix published
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
8.0= 8.0no fix published
9.0= 9.0no fix published

1 more product in the sources.

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

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • drupal7CleanStartall versions · fixed in 7.62-r0
  • drupal7Alpine:v3.20all versions · fixed in 7.62-r0
  • drupal7Alpine:v3.19all versions · fixed in 7.62-r0
  • drupal7Alpine:v3.18all versions · fixed in 7.62-r0
  • drupal7Alpine:v3.17all versions · fixed in 7.62-r0
  • drupal7Alpine:v3.16all versions · fixed in 7.62-r0
  • drupal7Alpine:v3.15all versions · fixed in 7.62-r0
  • drupal7Alpine:v3.14all versions · fixed in 7.62-r0

15 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2018-1000888 Red Hat Product Security10 known affected

    php-pear: Unsafe deserialization of data in Archive_Tar class

    php-pear as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · php-pear.src as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · php-pear as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 · +7 more

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update pear/archive_tar to 1.4.4
  2. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2018-1000888 · 3 productsOut of support scope
  3. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2018-1000888 · 7 productsWill not fix

Detection

read 2026-11-03 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
EDB-46108
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2018-12-28
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-3q76-jq6m-573p

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-1000888?

PEAR Archive_Tar version 1.4.3 and earlier contains a CWE-502, CWE-915 vulnerability in the Archive_Tar class. There are several file operations with `$v_header['filename']` as parameter (such as file_exists, is_file, is_dir, etc). When extract is called without a specific prefix path, we can trigger unserialization by crafting a tar file with `phar://[path_to_malicious_phar_file]` as path. Object injection can be used to trigger destruct in the loaded PHP classes, e.g. the Archive_Tar class itself. With Archive_Tar object injection, arbitrary file deletion can occur because `@unlink($this->_temp_tarname)` is called. If another class with useful gadget is loaded, it may possible to cause remote code execution that can result in files being deleted or possibly modified. This vulnerability appears to have been fixed in 1.4.4.

Is CVE-2018-1000888 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2018-1000888 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 19.1% on 2026-11-03, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2018-1000888?

CVE-2018-1000888 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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