CVE-2025-69874
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2025-69874 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in nanotar that allows attackers to write arbitrary files outside the intended extraction directory via crafted tar archives. This affects all applications using nanotar versions through 0.2.0 for tar archive parsing. Attackers can potentially overwrite system files or deploy malicious payloads.
💻 Affected Systems
- nanotar
⚠️ 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
Remote code execution via overwriting critical system files or configuration files, leading to complete system compromise.
Likely Case
File system corruption, data loss, or deployment of backdoors/malware in web application contexts.
If Mitigated
Limited to directory traversal within application's file system permissions, potentially causing data integrity issues.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only a crafted tar archive with path traversal sequences (e.g., '../../etc/passwd').
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 0.2.1 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/unjs/nanotar
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update nanotar package: npm update nanotar
2. Verify version is 0.2.1 or higher: npm list nanotar
3. Test tar parsing functionality after update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input validation and sanitization
allValidate and sanitize tar archive paths before processing to prevent traversal sequences.
Chroot/jail extraction
allExtract tar archives in a chrooted or jailed environment with restricted file system access.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable tar archive processing from untrusted sources
- Implement strict file system permissions and monitor for unauthorized file writes
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check package.json or run: npm list nanotar | grep nanotarCheck Version:
npm list nanotar | grep nanotarVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm nanotar version is 0.2.1 or higher: npm list nanotar📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected file write operations outside expected directories
- Failed file write attempts with traversal patterns
Network Indicators:
- Inbound tar archive uploads to vulnerable endpoints
SIEM Query:
file_write AND (path:"../" OR path:"..\\") AND process_name:"node"