Is CVE-2026-29786 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-29786 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-29786?

Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.3, published 7 March 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

tar (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=7.5.10.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-29786?

Yes. tar (npm): upgrade to 7.5.10 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-29786 attacked?

It is attacked with local access, in a software library.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-29786?

Check whether you run tar (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-29786: isaacs node-tar path traversal via drive-relative hardlink

CVE-2026-29786 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.3 · Published 2026-03-07

node-tar is a popular software library used by Node.js applications to create and extract compressed archive files. A security flaw allows a specially crafted archive to create file links that point outside of the intended folder. If an application or user extracts such an archive, an attacker could overwrite sensitive files on the system, potentially leading to system instability or unauthorized configuration changes.

Technologies: tar (npm). Vendors: npm.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-29786 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-29786 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-29786?: Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.3, published 7 March 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: tar (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=7.5.10.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-29786?: Yes. tar (npm): upgrade to 7.5.10 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-29786 attacked?: It is attacked with local access, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-29786?: Check whether you run tar (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

tar (npm): upgrade to 7.5.10 or later
```
npm install tar@7.5.10
```

Technical details

A path traversal vulnerability exists in node-tar's hardlink extraction logic. The 'Unpack' component fails to properly sanitize drive-relative link targets (e.g., 'C:../target.txt') because it checks for directory traversal segments ('..') before stripping absolute drive roots. An attacker can provide a malicious tar archive that, when extracted via tar.x(), creates a hardlink pointing outside the current working directory. Subsequent writes to the extracted link will overwrite the target file with the permissions of the Node.js process. This issue is resolved in version 7.5.10 by ensuring absolute roots are stripped before path sanitization.

Affected products

isaacs (npm) tar < 7.5.10

Identifiers

CVE-2026-29786
GHSA-qffp-2rhf-9h96

Timeline

2026-03-04: advisory: GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-qffp-2rhf-9h96 published
2026-03-04: patched: Fix committed to repository and released in version 7.5.10
2026-03-07: disclosed: CVE-2026-29786 published to NVD

References

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