Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2021-32804

Q: Is CVE-2021-32804 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2021-32804 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 15.1% on 2026-10-23, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Q: What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-32804?

CVE-2021-32804 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.1 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H.

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

Published2021-08-03
Fixed in6.1.1 · 5.0.6 · 4.4.14 · 3.2.2
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

The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 6.1.1, 5.0.6, 4.4.14, and 3.3.2 has a arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite vulnerability due to insufficient absolute path sanitization. node-tar aims to prevent extraction of absolute file paths by turning absolute paths into relative paths when the `preservePaths` flag is not set to `true`. This is achieved by stripping the absolute path root from any absolute file paths contained in a tar file. For example `/home/user/.bashrc` would turn into `home/user/.bashrc`. This logic was insufficient when file paths contained repeated path roots such as `////home/user/.bashrc`. `node-tar` would only strip a single path root from such paths. When given an absolute file path with repeating path roots, the resulting path (e.g. `///home/user/.bashrc`) would still resolve to an absolute path, thus allowing arbitrary file creation and overwrite. This issue was addressed in releases 3.2.2, 4.4.14, 5.0.6 and 6.1.1. Users may work around this vulnerability without upgrading by creating a custom `onentry` method which sanitizes the `entry.path` or a `filter` method which removes entries with absolute paths. See referenced GitHub Advisory for details. Be aware of CVE-2021-32803 which fixes a similar bug in later versions of tar.

Timeline

dates in UTC

2021-08-0319:15CVE publishedNVD
2026-10-2319:23First public proof of conceptPoC-in-GitHub
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-2021-32804?format=txt
CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-32804?format=csv
TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD · OSV

Tar project tar

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
6.x	≥ 6.0.0, < 6.1.1	6.1.1	NVD · OSV
5.0	≥ 5.0.0, < 5.0.6	5.0.6	NVD · OSV
4.x	≥ 4.0.0, < 4.4.14	4.4.14	NVD · OSV
3.2	< 3.2.2	3.2.2	NVD · OSV

Oracle graalvm

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
20.3	= 20.3.3	no fix published	NVD
21.2	= 21.2.0	no fix published	NVD

Siemens sinec infrastructure network services

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
1.0	< 1.0.1.1	1.0.1.1	NVD

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

nodejsAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 1:12.22.5-1.module_el8.4.0+2529+af52a4c7and 3 other packages
nodejsAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 1:12.22.5-1.module_el8.5.0+85+79a7b441and 2 other packages
nodejs-nodemonAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 2.0.3-1.module_el8.4.0+2521+c668cc9f
nodejs-packagingAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 17-3.module_el8.3.0+2023+d2377ea3
nodejs-packagingAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 17-3.module_el8.4.0+2224+b07ac28e
nodejs-packagingAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 17-3.module_el8.4.0+2521+c668cc9f
nodejs-packagingAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 23-3.module_el8.4.0+2522+3bd42762
nodejs-packagingAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 23-3.module_el8.5.0+254+b4526b16

2 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Full record on NVD

Fix

Update Tar project tar to 6.1.1 · 5.0.6 · 4.4.14 · 3.2.2

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-10-23 19:23 UTC

Nuclei template: none so far
Exploit-DB: no entry
Proof-of-concept repositories: 1 repository, unverifiedyamory/CVE-2021-32804

Sources

CNACVSS 3.18.2read 2026-10-23
NVDCVSS 3.18.1read 2026-10-23
NVDCVSS 2.05.8read 2026-10-23
CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-22read 2026-10-23
NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-22read 2026-10-23
FIRST EPSSEPSS score15.1 %read 2026-10-23
PoC-in-GitHubproof of concept1read 2026-10-23
OSVaffected packages—

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
Published: 2021-08-03
Last Modified: 2026-06-17
NVD status: Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-32804?

Is CVE-2021-32804 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2021-32804 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 15.1% on 2026-10-23, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-32804?

CVE-2021-32804 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.1 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H.

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