CVE-2018-20990

An issue was discovered in the tar crate before 0.4.16 for Rust. Arbitrary file overwrite can occur via a symlink or hardlink in a TAR archive.

Weakness

The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
• Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/132.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/17.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/35.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/76.html

References

• https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2018-0002.html
• https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2018-0002.html