npm · tar
node-tar: Process crash via PAX numeric path type confusion
A crafted 2.5KB tar archive crashes any Node.js process that extracts it. The PAX header parser coerces all-digit path values to JavaScript numbers, which causes an uncaught TypeError when downstream code calls .split('/') on the numeric value. Error handlers and strict: false cannot intercept the crash.
In pax.ts line 180, parseKV converts PAX values matching /^[0-9]+$/ to numbers via +v. This applies to all fields including path and linkpath. When a PAX header sets path to an all-digit string like "12345", the value becomes the number 12345.
This number flows through Header -> ReadEntry -> Unpack.CHECKPATH, where normalizeWindowsPath(entry.path).split('/') throws a TypeError because numbers don't have .split().
The throw is synchronous during event emission and bypasses all error handling:
strict: false does not help'error' event handlers do not catch it'warn' handlers do not catch itDirectory, SymbolicLink, and Link type entries reach CHECKPATH and crash. File type entries crash earlier in Header constructor at this.path.slice(-1), but that throw is caught and emitted as a warning only.
Create a tar archive with a PAX extended header containing an all-digit path:
PAX header body: "18 path=12345\n"
Entry type: Directory (type '5')
Extract it:
const tar = require('tar');
// All of these crash with TypeError: t.split is not a function
tar.extract({ file: 'malicious.tar', cwd: '/tmp/test' });
// Error handlers don't help:
tar.extract({ file: 'malicious.tar', cwd: '/tmp/test', strict: false })
.on('error', (err) => { /* never reached */ })
.on('warn', (code, msg) => { /* never reached */ });
The archive is ~2.5KB. The crash is deterministic on every attempt.
Denial of service. Any application or tool that extracts untrusted tar archives crashes from a single small file. This includes npm (which uses node-tar to extract packages), CI/CD pipelines, file upload processors, and backup tools. The crash cannot be caught by application-level error handling.
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Check my repoSources: CISA KEV (public domain), OSV.dev & GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY-4.0), FIRST EPSS, NVD/CWE (public domain). Served live from the Stateward advisory database.