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

  - The npm package tar (aka node-tar) before versions 4.4.16, 5.0.8, and 6.1.7 has an arbitrary file     creation/overwrite and arbitrary code execution vulnerability. node-tar aims to guarantee that any file     whose location would be modified by a symbolic link is not extracted. This is, in part, achieved by     ensuring that extracted directories are not symlinks. Additionally, in order to prevent unnecessary stat     calls to determine whether a given path is a directory, paths are cached when directories are created.
    This logic was insufficient when extracting tar files that contained both a directory and a symlink with     the same name as the directory, where the symlink and directory names in the archive entry used     backslashes as a path separator on posix systems. The cache checking logic used both `\` and `/`     characters as path separators, however `\` is a valid filename character on posix systems. By first     creating a directory, and then replacing that directory with a symlink, it was thus possible to bypass     node-tar symlink checks on directories, essentially allowing an untrusted tar file to symlink into an     arbitrary location and subsequently extracting arbitrary files into that location, thus allowing arbitrary     file creation and overwrite. Additionally, a similar confusion could arise on case-insensitive     filesystems. If a tar archive contained a directory at `FOO`, followed by a symbolic link named `foo`,     then on case-insensitive file systems, the creation of the symbolic link would remove the directory from     the filesystem, but _not_ from the internal directory cache, as it would not be treated as a cache hit. A     subsequent file entry within the `FOO` directory would then be placed in the target of the symbolic link,     thinking that the directory had already been created. These issues were addressed in releases 4.4.16,     5.0.8 and 6.1.7. The v3 branch of node-tar has been deprecated and did not receive patches for these     issues. If you are still using a v3 release we recommend you update to a more recent version of node-tar.
    If this is not possible, a workaround is available in the referenced GHSA-9r2w-394v-53qc. (CVE-2021-37701)

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

Detections

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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2021-37701

high Nessus Plugin ID 252546

Version 1.4

Version 1.3

Version 1.1

Version 1.4 Aug 1, 2026, 1:08 PM Detection (updated detection logic) Plugin Feed: 202608011308
Version 1.3 Jun 23, 2026, 12:45 PM CVSS temporal metrics ("CVSSv2 temporal vector" set to "CVSS2#E:U/RL:U/RC:C") CVSS temporal metrics ("CVSSv3 temporal vector" set to "CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C") Detection (updated detection logic) Plugin Feed: 202606231245
Version 1.1 Aug 20, 2025, 11:22 PM New Plugin Feed: 202508202322