CVE-2026-31802: node-tar Symlink Path Traversal via Drive-Relative Linkpath

March 10, 2026

tar (npm) can be tricked into creating a symlink that points outside the extraction directory by using a drive-relative symlink target such as C:../../../target.txt, which enables file overwrite outside cwd during normal tar.x() extraction.

References

github.com/advisories/GHSA-9ppj-qmqm-q256
github.com/isaacs/node-tar
github.com/isaacs/node-tar/commit/f48b5fa3b7985ddab96dc0f2125a4ffc9911b6ad
github.com/isaacs/node-tar/security/advisories/GHSA-9ppj-qmqm-q256
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31802

Code Behaviors & Features

Detect and mitigate CVE-2026-31802 with GitLab Dependency Scanning

Secure your software supply chain by verifying that all open source dependencies used in your projects contain no disclosed vulnerabilities. Learn more about Dependency Scanning →