CVE-2024-57970
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in libarchive allows attackers to cause a heap-based buffer over-read when processing specially crafted TAR archives with truncated GNU long linknames. This could lead to application crashes or information disclosure. Any system or application using vulnerable versions of libarchive to extract TAR archives is affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- libarchive
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Denial of service (application crash) or potential information disclosure from heap memory, possibly leading to further exploitation.
Likely Case
Application crash when processing malicious TAR archives, causing denial of service.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if proper input validation and sandboxing are in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires crafting a malicious TAR archive with specific truncation in GNU long linknames.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Fixed in libarchive 3.7.8 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/pull/2422
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update libarchive to version 3.7.8 or later. 2. For Linux systems: Use package manager (apt-get update && apt-get upgrade libarchive, yum update libarchive, etc.). 3. For source installations: Download latest version from libarchive.org and recompile. 4. Restart any services using libarchive.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable TAR archive processing
allConfigure applications to avoid using libarchive for TAR extraction where possible
Input validation for TAR archives
allImplement pre-processing validation for TAR archives before passing to libarchive
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation for TAR archives from untrusted sources
- Run applications using libarchive in sandboxed/isolated environments
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check libarchive version: libarchive --version or dpkg -l | grep libarchive or rpm -qa | grep libarchiveCheck Version:
libarchive --version | head -1Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 3.7.8 or later using version check command📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes when processing TAR archives
- Memory access violation errors in application logs
Network Indicators:
- Unusual TAR archive uploads to web applications
SIEM Query:
source="application.log" AND ("segmentation fault" OR "memory violation" OR "buffer over-read") AND "tar"