Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract hardlinks to attacker controlled paths outside the extraction directory. _make_special_file() passes the tar header's linkname to link() without validating it against absolute paths or .. segments, creating a hardlink that shares the victim file's inode. A subsequent write through the extracted name modifies the victim file, and the post-extraction chmod, chown, and utime block in _extract_file() (guarded only against symlinks via -l) applies the tar header's mode, owner, and timestamps to the shared inode during extraction alone.

It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-1805 advisory.

    Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract symlinks with attacker controlled targets outside the     extraction directory.  _make_special_file() passes the tar header's linkname to symlink() without     validating it against absolute paths or .. segments. The secure-extract mode check that guards regular     file extraction does not cover the symlink target.  A subsequent open through the extracted name reads or     writes the attacker chosen path.

    NOTE: https://lists.security.metacpan.org/cve-announce/msg/40396459/ (CVE-2026-42496)

    Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract hardlinks to attacker controlled paths outside the     extraction directory.  _make_special_file() passes the tar header's linkname to link() without validating     it against absolute paths or .. segments, creating a hardlink that shares the victim file's inode.  A     subsequent write through the extracted name modifies the victim file, and the post-extraction chmod,     chown, and utime block in _extract_file() (guarded only against symlinks via -l) applies the tar header's     mode, owner, and timestamps to the shared inode during extraction alone.

    NOTE: https://lists.security.metacpan.org/cve-announce/msg/40396457/ (CVE-2026-42497)

    Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size     field in tar header.  _read_tar() reads each entry's payload with $handle->read($$data, $block), where     $block is derived from the entry's 12-byte size field in the tar header with no upper bound on that value.
    A crafted header declaring a multi-gigabyte size causes Perl to allocate a scalar of that size.

    NOTE: https://lists.security.metacpan.org/cve-announce/msg/40396448/ (CVE-2026-9538)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The version of perl-Archive-Tar installed on the remote host is prior to 1.92-3. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ALAS2-2026-3347 advisory.

    Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract symlinks with attacker controlled targets outside the     extraction directory.  _make_special_file() passes the tar header's linkname to symlink() without     validating it against absolute paths or .. segments. The secure-extract mode check that guards regular     file extraction does not cover the symlink target.  A subsequent open through the extracted name reads or     writes the attacker chosen path.

    NOTE: https://lists.security.metacpan.org/cve-announce/msg/40396459/ (CVE-2026-42496)

    Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract hardlinks to attacker controlled paths outside the     extraction directory.  _make_special_file() passes the tar header's linkname to link() without validating     it against absolute paths or .. segments, creating a hardlink that shares the victim file's inode.  A     subsequent write through the extracted name modifies the victim file, and the post-extraction chmod,     chown, and utime block in _extract_file() (guarded only against symlinks via -l) applies the tar header's     mode, owner, and timestamps to the shared inode during extraction alone.

    NOTE: https://lists.security.metacpan.org/cve-announce/msg/40396457/ (CVE-2026-42497)

    Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size     field in tar header.  _read_tar() reads each entry's payload with $handle->read($$data, $block), where     $block is derived from the entry's 12-byte size field in the tar header with no upper bound on that value.
    A crafted header declaring a multi-gigabyte size causes Perl to allocate a scalar of that size.

    NOTE: https://lists.security.metacpan.org/cve-announce/msg/40396448/ (CVE-2026-9538)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - Archive::Tar versions before 3.08 for Perl extract hardlinks to attacker controlled paths outside the     extraction directory. _make_special_file() passes the tar header's linkname to link() without validating     it against absolute paths or .. segments, creating a hardlink that shares the victim file's inode. A     subsequent write through the extracted name modifies the victim file, and the post-extraction chmod,     chown, and utime block in _extract_file() (guarded only against symlinks via -l) applies the tar header's     mode, owner, and timestamps to the shared inode during extraction alone. (CVE-2026-42497)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
319782	Amazon Linux 2023 : perl-Archive-Tar, perl-Archive-Tar-tests (ALAS2023-2026-1805)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	critical
319771	Amazon Linux 2 : perl-Archive-Tar, --advisory ALAS2-2026-3347 (ALAS-2026-3347)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	critical
317042	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-42497	Nessus	Misc.	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2026-42497

high

Tenable Plugins

critical

critical

high