Cyber Posture

CVE-2026-42497

High

Published: 26 May 2026

Published
26 May 2026
Modified
27 May 2026
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0002 4.9th percentile
Risk Priority 15 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-42497 is a high-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Archive\ \. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Linux and Mac Permissions (T1222.002); ranked at the 4.9th 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 Linux and Mac Permissions (T1222.002) and 2 other techniques.
Threat & Defense Details

Likely Mitigating ControlsAI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-732

Procedures support proper permission assignment for critical resources through documented controls.

addresses: CWE-732

Attribute management for resources provides a mechanism to assign and maintain correct permissions based on security labels.

addresses: CWE-732

Prevents overly permissive assignments to critical resources by limiting to task needs.

addresses: CWE-732

Training policy covers correct permission assignment, reducing the ability to exploit incorrect permission assignments for critical resources.

addresses: CWE-732

Training on permission management reduces incorrect permission assignments for critical resources.

addresses: CWE-732

Audit logs and logging tools are critical resources whose protection requires correct permission assignments to block unauthorized actions.

addresses: CWE-732

Assessments review permission assignments on critical resources to confirm correctness, mitigating exploitation via incorrect permissions.

addresses: CWE-732

Certification includes checking that permissions on critical resources are correctly assigned.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1222.002 Linux and Mac Permissions Defense Impairment
Adversaries may modify file or directory permissions/attributes to evade access control lists (ACLs) and access protected files.
T1070.006 Timestomp Stealth
Adversaries may modify file time attributes to hide new files or changes to existing files.
T1565.001 Stored Data Manipulation Impact
Adversaries may insert, delete, or manipulate data at rest in order to influence external outcomes or hide activity, thus threatening the integrity of the data.
Why these techniques?

Hardlink extraction without path validation enables arbitrary inode modification (content overwrite via write, plus chmod/chown/utime) outside the extraction root.

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

NVD Description

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…

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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.

Deeper analysisAI

Automated synthesis unavailable for this CVE.

Details

CWE(s)
OWASP Top 10 Web 2025

Affected Products

archive\
\
tar_project

EU & UK References

References