Is this vulnerability remotely exploitable?

Yes, if a system exposes a network-accessible feature (such as an upload endpoint, package ingestion service, or API) that accepts tar archives and extracts them using node-tar with default options. In such setups, an attacker can provide a crafted archive remotely.

What level of access does an attacker need?

The attacker needs the ability to supply or influence the tar archive being extracted. They do not need local shell access; control over the archive contents is sufficient, as long as the extraction is performed under a user with access to the target files.

What is the safest general fix pattern?

The safest pattern is to enforce strict confinement of extraction to a dedicated directory, combined with rejecting or neutralizing any archive entries (including hardlinks and symlinks) that resolve outside that directory. Complement this with least-privilege execution for the extraction process.

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.1)

Path Traversal via Hardlink Creation (CWE-22) in node-tar Extraction Defaults

CVE-2026-26960

Published:

Feb 19, 2026

Status:

Analyzed

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

NDV

Recent Vulnerabilities

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setGameSpeedCfg CGI Handler

Remote Code Execution on the Router

April 6, 2026

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setFirewallType Handler

Remote Code Execution on Router Firmware

April 6, 2026

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Path Traversal / Directory Traversal

CWE:

CWE-22

Impact:

Arbitrary File Read and Write

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.1)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Path Traversal / Directory Traversal

CWE:

CWE-22

Impact:

Arbitrary File Read and Write

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.1)

CVSS Version:

3.1

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Ask AI for summary of CodeAnt

Path Traversal via Hardlink Creation (CWE-22) in node-tar Extraction Defaults

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Recent Vulnerabilities

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setGameSpeedCfg CGI Handler

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setFirewallType Handler

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

Ship clean & secure code faster

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