# CVE-2015-8929: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via a malicious tar file due to a memory leak in libarchive.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 20 Sep 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-8929, GHSA-24gg-vmf8-whvm

## What is CVE-2015-8929?

CVE-2015-8929 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Libarchive Libarchive, published on 20 Sep 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Memory leak in the __archive_read_get_extract function in archive_read_extract2.c in libarchive before 3.2.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a tar file.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-8929?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Libarchive Libarchive, Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop, Suse Linux Enterprise Server, Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-8929?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-8929 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-8929 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Libarchive Libarchive

- [CVE-2024-37407](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-37407/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2016-1541](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1541/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-6250](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6250/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2025-5914](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-5914/): Libarchive: double free at archive_read_format_rar_seek_data() in archive_read_support_format_rar.c (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2024-48957](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-48957/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-8929 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-8929 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Libarchive Libarchive, published on 20 Sep 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-8929 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Libarchive Libarchive. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8929/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8929/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8929
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8929
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-8929

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8929/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.