CVE-2025-64118 node-tar vulnerable to race condition leading to uninitialized memory exposure
An attacker can expose uninitialized memory by shrinking a tar file on disk during synchronous list operations in node-tar.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-64118?
CVE-2025-64118 is a medium-severity vulnerability in isaacs node-tar, published on 30 Oct 2025. 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
node-tar is a Tar for Node.js. In 7.5.1, using .t (aka .list) with { sync: true } to read tar entry contents returns uninitialized memory contents if tar file was changed on disk to a smaller size while being read. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.5.2.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-64118?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including tar.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
tar npm | From 7.5.1 | 7.5.2 |
tar npm | From 7.5.1 | 7.5.2 |
How do I fix CVE-2025-64118?
Upgrade tar to 7.5.2 or later.
Is CVE-2025-64118 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-64118 exists.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-29xp-372q-xqph, MINI-6wvx-vq4h-6vg8, MINI-9wr8-2m24-p869, MINI-fgph-r2jc-jxrw, MINI-j7fc-35j5-h4j9, MINI-m9p4-37x3-gp35 and 4 more.