CVE-2026-59873 node-tar: Decompression/parse DoS via unlimited input
Attackers can cause denial of service by exhausting disk space and CPU using crafted gzip bombs in the node-tar library.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-59873?
CVE-2026-59873 is a critical denial of service vulnerability in isaacs node-tar, published on 8 Jul 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
node-tar is a tar archive manipulation library for Node.js. Prior to 7.5.19, node-tar does not enforce hard upper bounds on total decompressed data, entry counts, or decompression ratio in extraction and parsing paths such as src/extract.ts, allowing a small crafted gzip bomb to exhaust disk space and CPU. This issue is fixed in version 7.5.19.
Weakness: CWE-770
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-59873?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including tar. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
tar npm | All versions | 7.5.19 |
tar npm | All versions | 7.5.19 |
Products include Isaacs Tar.
How do I fix CVE-2026-59873?
Upgrade tar to 7.5.19 or later.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-59873 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-59873 exists.
Other vulnerabilities in isaacs node-tar
- CVE-2026-23950 node-tar has Race Condition in Path Reservations via Unicode Ligature Collisions on macOS APFS
- CVE-2026-59874 node-tar: Negative tar entry size causes infinite loop in archive replace
- CVE-2026-31802 node-tar Symlink Path Traversal via Drive-Relative Linkpath
- CVE-2026-29786 node-tar: Hardlink Path Traversal via Drive-Relative Linkpath
- CVE-2026-24842 node-tar Vulnerable to Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite via Hardlink Path Traversal
Sources
Also known as CLEANSTART-2026-HG84395, CLEANSTART-2026-KX94176, CLEANSTART-2026-OH51189, CLSA-2026-1793109968, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-59873, ECHO-c7c8-7028-c3fc and 43 more.