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Vulnerability DatabaseCVE-2021-33646
CVE-2021-33646:
NixOS vulnerability analysis and mitigation
Overview
CVE-2021-33646 is a memory leak vulnerability discovered in libtar, a C library for manipulating tar archives. The vulnerability exists in the th_read() function where a variable t->th_buf.gnu_longname is not properly freed after memory allocation (CVE, Debian Tracker).
Technical details
The vulnerability occurs in the th_read() function of libtar, which fails to free the t->th_buf.gnu_longname variable after allocating memory. This implementation flaw can result in memory leaks during the processing of tar archives (CVE).
Impact
When exploited, this vulnerability can cause memory leaks in the system running the affected libtar library, potentially leading to resource exhaustion over time (Fedora Update).
Mitigation and workarounds
Multiple Linux distributions have released patches to address this vulnerability. Fedora has released updates (libtar-1.2.20-25) that fix the memory leaks through gnu_longname. Debian has also provided fixes in version 1.2.20-8+deb12u1 for bookworm and 1.2.20-8+deb12u1~deb11u1 for bullseye (Fedora Update, Debian Tracker).
Additional resources
Source: This report was generated using AI
Related NixOS vulnerabilities:
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