Cyber Posture

CVE-2026-42496

Critical
Microsoft: not affectedMSmacOS: not affectedMacLinux: not affectedLnxMobile: not affectedMobNetwork: not affectedNetApplication: affectedAppOther: not affectedOth

Published: 26 May 2026

Published
26 May 2026
Modified
27 May 2026
KEV Added
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Patch
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CVSS Score 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0002 5.6th percentile
Risk Priority 18 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-42496 is a critical-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Archive\ \. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 5.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190).
Threat & Defense Details

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

Path traversal via malicious tar symlink extraction directly enables exploitation of applications using the vulnerable Archive::Tar library (typically public-facing services processing untrusted archives).

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

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…

more

file extraction does not cover the symlink target. A subsequent open through the extracted name reads or writes the attacker chosen path.

Deeper analysisAI

Automated synthesis unavailable for this CVE.

Details

CWE(s)
CWE-59
OWASP Top 10 Web 2025
A01:2025

Affected Products

archive\
\
tar_project

EU & UK References

Regulatory context (EU CRA / NIS2 / DORA / UK NIS Regulations)

EU Cyber Resilience Act — coordinated disclosure

Critical and high-severity vulnerabilities in products with digital elements may trigger coordinated-disclosure obligations under the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA, Regulation 2024/2847). Manufacturers placing products on the EU market must notify ENISA and the relevant CSIRTs without undue delay once active exploitation is known.

References