The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 4.4.16, 5.0.8, and 6.1.7 has an arbitrary file creation/overwrite and arbitrary code execution vulnerability. node-tar aims to guarantee that any file whose location would be modified by a symbolic link is not extracted. This is, in part, achieved by ensuring that extracted directories are not symlinks. Additionally, in order to prevent unnecessary stat calls to determine whether a given path is a directory, paths are cached when directories are created. This logic was insufficient when extracting tar files that contained both a directory and a symlink with the same name as the directory, where the symlink and directory names in the archive entry used backslashes as a path separator on posix systems. The cache checking logic used both `\` and `/` characters as path separators, however `\` is a valid filename character on posix systems. By first creating a directory, and then replacing that directory with a symlink, it was thus possible to bypass node-tar symlink checks on directories, essentially allowing an untrusted tar file to symlink into an arbitrary location and subsequently extracting arbitrary files into that location, thus allowing arbitrary file creation and overwrite. Additionally, a similar confusion could arise on case-insensitive filesystems. If a tar archive contained a directory at `FOO`, followed by a symbolic link named `foo`, then on case-insensitive file systems, the creation of the symbolic link would remove the directory from the filesystem, but _not_ from the internal directory cache, as it would not be treated as a cache hit. A subsequent file entry within the `FOO` directory would then be placed in the target of the symbolic link, thinking that the directory had already been created. These issues were addressed in releases 4.4.16, 5.0.8 and 6.1.7. The v3 branch of node-tar has been deprecated and did not receive patches for these issues. If you are still using a v3 release we recommend you update to a more recent version of node-tar. If this is not possible, a workaround is available in the referenced GHSA-9r2w-394v-53qc.

An issue was discovered in GNOME GLib before 2.66.8. When g_file_replace() is used with G_FILE_CREATE_REPLACE_DESTINATION to replace a path that is a dangling symlink, it incorrectly also creates the target of the symlink as an empty file, which could conceivably have security relevance if the symlink is attacker-controlled. (If the path is a symlink to a file that already exists, then the contents of that file correctly remain unchanged.)

An improper link resolution flaw while extracting an archive can lead to changing the access control list (ACL) of the target of the link. An attacker may provide a malicious archive to a victim user, who would trigger this flaw when trying to extract the archive. A local attacker may use this flaw to change the ACL of a file on the system and gain more privileges.

Git is an open-source distributed revision control system. In affected versions of Git a specially crafted repository that contains symbolic links as well as files using a clean/smudge filter such as Git LFS, may cause just-checked out script to be executed while cloning onto a case-insensitive file system such as NTFS, HFS+ or APFS (i.e. the default file systems on Windows and macOS). Note that clean/smudge filters have to be configured for that. Git for Windows configures Git LFS by default, and is therefore vulnerable. The problem has been patched in the versions published on Tuesday, March 9th, 2021. As a workaound, if symbolic link support is disabled in Git (e.g. via `git config --global core.symlinks false`), the described attack won't work. Likewise, if no clean/smudge filters such as Git LFS are configured globally (i.e. _before_ cloning), the attack is foiled. As always, it is best to avoid cloning repositories from untrusted sources. The earliest impacted version is 2.14.2. The fix versions are: 2.30.1, 2.29.3, 2.28.1, 2.27.1, 2.26.3, 2.25.5, 2.24.4, 2.23.4, 2.22.5, 2.21.4, 2.20.5, 2.19.6, 2.18.5, 2.17.62.17.6.

storeBackup.pl in storeBackup through 3.5 relies on the /tmp/storeBackup.lock pathname, which allows symlink attacks that possibly lead to privilege escalation. (Local users can also create a plain file named /tmp/storeBackup.lock to block use of storeBackup until an admin manually deletes that file.)

A link following denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in the Trend Micro Security (Consumer) 2021 familiy of products could allow an attacker to abuse the PC Health Checkup feature of the product to create symlinks that would allow modification of files which could lead to a denial-of-service.

opentmpfiles through 0.3.1 allows local users to take ownership of arbitrary files because d entries are mishandled and allow a symlink attack.

Red Hat Storage 2.0 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the (1) e, (2) local-bricks.list, (3) bricks.err, or (4) limits.conf files in /tmp.

This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13.7, macOS Sonoma 14.7, macOS Sequoia 15. An app may be able to modify protected parts of the file system.

The git-changelog utility in git-extras 1.7.0 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on (1) /tmp/changelog or (2) /tmp/.git-effort.

The fedora-business-cards package before 1-0.1.beta1.fc17 on Fedora 17 and before 1-0.1.beta1.fc18 on Fedora 18 allows local users to cause a denial of service or write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack on /tmp/fedora-business-cards-buffer.svg.

Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following') vulnerability in the EPAG component of Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools for Windows allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service. This issue affects: Bitdefender GravityZone version 7.1.2.33 and prior versions.

everybuddy 0.4.3 and earlier allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file created by a system call to wget.

The internal_dump function in Mathopd before 1.5p5, and 1.6x before 1.6b6 BETA, when Mathopd is running with the -n option, allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on dump files that are triggered by a SIGWINCH signal.

It was discovered that the process_report() function in data/whoopsie-upload-all allowed arbitrary file writes via symlinks.

Portage before 2.0.50-r3 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a hard link attack on the lockfiles.

This vulnerability allows local attackers to delete arbitrary directories on affected installations of Avast Premium Security 20.8.2429 (Build 20.8.5653.561). An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the AvastSvc.exe module. By creating a directory junction, an attacker can abuse the service to delete a directory. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to create a denial-of-service condition on the system. Was ZDI-CAN-12082.

A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with `guix build`, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.

faxrunqd.in in mgetty 1.1.28 and earlier allows local users to overwrite files via a symlink attack on JOB files.

A validation issue existed in the handling of symlinks. This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in iOS 12.3, macOS Mojave 10.14.5, tvOS 12.3, watchOS 5.2.1. A local user may be able to modify protected parts of the file system.

Dell Command Update versions prior to 3.1 contain an Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious user with low privileges potentially could exploit this vulnerability to delete arbitrary files by creating a symlink from the "Temp\IC\ICDebugLog.txt" to any targeted file. This issue occurs because of insecure handling of Temp directory permissions that were set incorrectly.

NTFS file system in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 SP2 allows local attackers to hide file usage activities via a hard link to the target file, which causes the link to be recorded in the audit trail instead of the target file.

Dell Command Update versions prior to 3.1 contain an Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious user with low privileges potentially could exploit this vulnerability to delete arbitrary files by creating a symlink from the "Temp\ICProgress\Dell_InventoryCollector_Progress.xml" to any targeted file. This issue occurs because permissions on the Temp directory were set incorrectly.

Hard link and possibly symbolic link following vulnerabilities in QNX RTOS 4.25 (aka QNX4) allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via (1) the -f argument to the monitor utility, (2) the -d argument to dumper, (3) the -c argument to crttrap, or (4) using the Watcom sample utility.

clipedit in the Clipboard module for Perl allows local users to delete arbitrary files via a symlink attack on /tmp/clipedit$$.

MySQL before 5.1.46 allows local users to delete the data and index files of another user's MyISAM table via a symlink attack in conjunction with the DROP TABLE command, a different vulnerability than CVE-2008-4098 and CVE-2008-7247.

script command in the util-linux package before 2.11n allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files by setting a hardlink from the typescript log file to any file on the system, then having root execute the script command.

Joe text editor follows symbolic links when creating a rescue copy called DEADJOE during an abnormal exit, which allows local users to overwrite the files of other users whose joe session crashes.

Perl 5.004_04 and earlier follows symbolic links when running with the -e option, which allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the /tmp/perl-eaXXXXX file.

Privilege Escalation vulnerability in McAfee Total Protection (MTP) prior to 16.0.30 allows a local user to gain elevated privileges and perform arbitrary file deletion as the SYSTEM user potentially causing Denial of Service via manipulating Junction link, after enumerating certain files, at a specific time.

IBM Spectrum Protect 7.1 and 8.1 could allow a local attacker to launch a symlink attack. IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-archive Client creates temporary files insecurely. A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating a symbolic link from a temporary file to various files on the system, which could allow the attacker to overwrite arbitrary files on the system with elevated privileges. IBM X-Force ID: 125163.

Website META Language (WML) 2.0.11 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on (1) the /tmp/pe.tmp.$$ temporary file used by wml_contrib/wmg.cgi and (2) temporary files used by wml_backend/p3_eperl/eperl_sys.c.

wml_backend/p1_ipp/ipp.src in Website META Language (WML) 2.0.11 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the ipp.$$.tmp temporary file.

NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability in the NVIDIA Control Panel application where it is susceptible to a Windows file system symbolic link attack where an unprivileged attacker can cause the applications to overwrite privileged files, resulting in potential denial of service or data loss.

LutelWall 0.97 and earlier allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file created by a system call to wget.

A UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following vulnerability in the mysql-systemd-helper of the mariadb packaging of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 allows local attackers to change the permissions of arbitrary files to 0640. This issue affects: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 mariadb versions prior to 10.2.31-3.25.1. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 mariadb versions prior to 10.2.31-3.26.1.

The quarantine restoration function in Total Defense Anti-virus 11.5.2.28 is vulnerable to symbolic link attacks, allowing files to be written to privileged directories.

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows store installer where WindowsApps directory is vulnerable to symbolic link attack, aka 'Microsoft Windows Store Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.

Docker Desktop installer on Windows in versions before 4.6.0 allows an attacker to overwrite any administrator writable files by creating a symlink in place of where the installer writes its log file. Starting from version 4.6.0, the Docker Desktop installer, when run elevated, will write its log files to a location not writable by non-administrator users.

In Avast Antivirus before 19.4, a local administrator can trick the product into renaming arbitrary files by replacing the Logs\Update.log file with a symlink. The next time the product attempts to write to the log file, the target of the symlink is renamed. This defect can be exploited to rename a critical product file (e.g., AvastSvc.exe), causing the product to fail to start on the next system restart.

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows User Profile Service (ProfSvc) improperly handles symlinks. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could delete files and folders in an elevated context. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and delete files or folders of their choosing. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the Windows User Profile Service handles symlinks.

alsa-utils 1.0.19 and later versions allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack via the /usr/bin/alsa-info and /usr/bin/alsa-info.sh scripts.

Dell SupportAssist Client Consumer versions 3.9.13.0 and any versions prior to 3.9.13.0 contain an arbitrary file deletion vulnerability that can be exploited by using the Windows feature of NTFS called Symbolic links. Symbolic links can be created by any(non-privileged) user under some object directories, but by themselves are not sufficient to successfully escalate privileges. However, combining them with a different object, such as the NTFS junction point allows for the exploitation. Support assist clean files functionality do not distinguish junction points from the physical folder and proceeds to clean the target of the junction that allows nonprivileged users to create junction points and delete arbitrary files on the system which can be accessed only by the admin.

On BIG-IP versions 15.0.0-15.0.1, 14.1.0.2-14.1.2.2, 14.0.0.5-14.0.1, 13.1.1.5-13.1.3.1, 12.1.4.1-12.1.5, 11.6.4-11.6.5, and 11.5.9-11.5.10, the access controls implemented by scp.whitelist and scp.blacklist are not properly enforced for paths that are symlinks. This allows authenticated users with SCP access to overwrite certain configuration files that would otherwise be restricted.

McAfee Total Protection prior to 16.0.50 allows attackers to elevate user privileges due to Improper Link Resolution via registry keys. This could enable a user with lower privileges to execute unauthorized tasks.

checkpath in OpenRC through 0.42.1 might allow local users to take ownership of arbitrary files because a non-terminal path component can be a symlink.

Windows Update Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Supportutils, before version 3.1-5.7.1, wrote data to static file /tmp/supp_log, allowing local attackers to overwrite files on systems without symlink protection

In yast2-multipath before version 4.1.1 a static temporary filename allows local attackers to overwrite files on systems without symlink protection

A vulnerability exists in IBM SPSS Modeler Subscription Installer that allows a user with create symbolic link permission to write arbitrary file in another protected path during product installation. IBM X-Force ID: 187727.