CVE-2016-6321

Exploitation

Public exploit code exists. CISA's assessment records a public proof of concept. That is not a report of exploitation in the wild.

SSVC decision

• ExploitationpocPublic proof-of-concept exploit code exists. Not a report of exploitation in the wild.
• AutomatableyesAn attacker can reliably automate reconnaissance through exploitation, so this scales.
• Technical ImpactpartialSuccessful exploitation gives limited control of the vulnerable component.

CISA publishes the decision points, not a final SSVC decision. The decision also depends on mission and well-being impact, which is a property of your deployment rather than of the vulnerability.

EPSS probability

15.15% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.

EPSS percentile

Ranks above 96.5% of scored records. A rank, not a probability.

NVD base score

7.5 (CVSS v3.x), scored by the NVD independently of the CNA.

NVD CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

NVD analysis status

Modified. NVD last modified this record on 2026-06-17.

Red Hat severity

Moderate. Red Hat's rating for its own products, not a CVSS rating.

Exploit-prediction scores from FIRST. Independent scoring and analysis status from the NVD. Vendor severity from Red Hat. Exploitation assessment and catalog membership from CISA.

Published

2016-12-09 22:00Z9 YR AGO

Last updated

2025-08-06 21:12Z1 YR AGO

Reserved

2016-07-26

Assigning CNA

redhat

Record state

PUBLISHED

Severity

High (CVSS 7.5)

CNA CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Weaknesses

• CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')Base

Data version

5.1

Document digest

40f1c8cbf320b8f03f02be1160c3aad134c61a19da1b57f86093033bceff0b54

• seclists.org20161030 [CSS] POINTYFEATHER / tar extract pathname bypass (CVE-2016-6321) - patch updatehttp://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/102mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISC
• www.securityfocus.com93937http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93937vdb-entryx_refsource_BID
• security.gentoo.orgGLSA-201611-19https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201611-19vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOO
• seclists.org20161026 [CSS] POINTYFEATHER / tar extract pathname bypass (CVE-2016-6321)http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/96mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISC
• git.savannah.gnu.orghttp://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/commit/?id=7340f67b9860ea0531c1450e5aa261c50f67165dx_refsource_CONFIRM
• lists.gnu.org[bug-tar] 20161029 Re: [Bug-tar] possible fixes for CVE-2016-6321http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2016-10/msg00016.htmlmailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
• www.debian.orgDSA-3702http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3702vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIAN
• sintonen.fihttps://sintonen.fi/advisories/tar-extract-pathname-bypass.proper.txtx_refsource_MISC
• packetstormsecurity.comhttp://packetstormsecurity.com/files/139370/GNU-tar-1.29-Extract-Pathname-Bypass.htmlx_refsource_MISC
• www.ubuntu.comUSN-3132-1http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3132-1vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTU
• lists.apache.org[bookkeeper-issues] 20210628 [GitHub] [bookkeeper] padma81 opened a new issue #2746: Security Vulnerabilities in CentOS 7 image, Upgrade image to CentOS 8https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3Emailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
• lists.apache.org[bookkeeper-issues] 20210629 [GitHub] [bookkeeper] padma81 opened a new issue #2746: Security Vulnerabilities in CentOS 7 image, Upgrade image to CentOS 8https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3Emailing-listx_refsource_MLIST