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HIGH

cpio: improper input validation when writing tar header fields leads to unexpected tar generation

Published Jan 7, 2020

Description

In all versions of cpio before 2.13 does not properly validate input files when generating TAR archives. When cpio is used to create TAR archives from paths an attacker can write to, the resulting archive may contain files with permissions the attacker did not have or in paths he did not have access to. Extracting those archives from a high-privilege user without carefully reviewing them may lead to the compromise of the system.

Affected products

Remediation

Red Hat mitigation

TAR archives should be inspected before being extracted and the extraction should be performed with the `tar` command or `--no-absolute-filenames` option if done with `cpio`. Moreover, it should be performed by a low-privilege user whenever possible, to prevent extraction of files that could compromise the system.

Metrics

Weaknesses (1)

CWE-20

Improper Input Validation

References (8)

Change history (0)

No recorded changes yet.

Sources
CVE.org / MITRE
Status PUBLISHED
Assigner redhat
Published Jan 7, 2020
Updated Feb 13, 2025
Reserved Aug 10, 2019
Link CVE-2019-14866
CISA Vulnrichment
Updated n/a
NVD
Status Modified
Modified Jun 17, 2026
Link CVE-2019-14866
Red Hat
Severity Moderate
Public date Aug 30, 2019
Links CVE-2019-14866 - Bugzilla