# CVE-2023-39804: Denial of service in n/a

> An attacker can cause a denial of service by providing a crafted PAX archive with mishandled extension attributes to GNU tar.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 4 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** AZL-52625, BELL-CVE-2023-39804, CLSA-2024-1706026767, CLSA-2024-1710436683, CLSA-2025-1762535960, CLSA-2025-1762536241, CLSA-2026-1778820779, CLSA-2026-1778828497, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-39804, DLA-3755-1, GHSA-5pvw-wf9w-xx8v, JLSEC-2026-185, OESA-2023-1991, OESA-2023-1992, OESA-2023-1993, OESA-2023-1994, OESA-2023-2002, SUSE-SU-2024:0070-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0070-2, SUSE-SU-2024:0071-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-39804, USN-6543-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:13751-1

## What is CVE-2023-39804?

CVE-2023-39804 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 27 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In GNU tar before 1.35, mishandled extension attributes in a PAX archive can lead to an application crash in xheader.c.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-39804?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 | All versions | 1.27.1-15.24.1 |
| `tar` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 | All versions | 1.27.1-15.24.1 |
| `tar` | openSUSE:Leap 15.4 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | openSUSE:Leap 15.5 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.4 | All versions | 1.34-150000.3.34.1 |
| `tar` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 1.35-2.1 |

Products: Gnu Tar.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-39804?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-39804 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-39804 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2005-2541](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-2541/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2019-9923](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9923/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2016-6321](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6321/): Path traversal in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2007-4131](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-4131/): Path traversal in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2006-0300](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-0300/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 5.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-39804 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-39804 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 27 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-39804 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2023-39804/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-39804/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-39804
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-39804
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-39804

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-39804/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.