CVE-2020-28949
Fedoraproject Fedora 32 … 35
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2020-28949 is a high-severity an unspecified weakness vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
Archive_Tar through version 1.4.10 contains a filename sanitization flaw that only blocks phar:// stream wrappers to prevent certain attacks. The component is the PEAR Archive_Tar library used for tar archive handling in PHP applications. As a result, other stream wrappers such as file:// remain usable and can lead to arbitrary file operations during archive extraction.
An attacker can supply a specially crafted tar archive that, when processed by a vulnerable application, leverages alternate stream wrappers to overwrite arbitrary files on the local system. The attack requires local access and user interaction to open the archive but needs no prior privileges, enabling high-impact outcomes including confidentiality, integrity, and availability compromise as reflected in its CVSS 7.8 rating.
Advisories from Debian LTS and Fedora recommend updating Archive_Tar to a patched release that fully addresses stream-wrapper handling. Corresponding package updates are referenced in the Fedora and Debian mailing list announcements, along with a public proof-of-concept on Packet Storm.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2021-0783
Vulnerability Data
Archive_Tar through 1.4.10 has :// filename sanitization only to address phar attacks, and thus any other stream-wrapper attack (such as file:// to overwrite files) can still succeed.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 25 August 2022
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Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
No mitigating controls mapped yet. The per-CVE control annotator has not reached this CVE.