CVE-2025-59825

Workarounds

Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.5.4 or newer to address this advisory.

There is no workaround other than upgrading.

References

• See GHSA-7j9j-68r2-f35q for how this vulnerability affects uv, astral-tokio-tar's primary downstream user. Observe that unlike this advisory, uv's advisory is considered low severity due to overlap with intentional existing capabilities in source distributions.
• This vulnerability is similar to (but not related in code) to CVE-2025-4138 and CVE-2025-4517, which concern Python's tarfile module.

In versions 0.5.3 and earlier of astral-tokio-tar, tar archives may extract outside of their intended destination directory when using the Entry::unpack_in_raw API. Additionally, the Entry::allow_external_symlinks control (which defaults to true) could be bypassed via a pair of symlinks that individually point within the destination but combine to point outside of it.

These behaviors could be used individually or combined to bypass the intended security control of limiting extraction to the given directory. This in turn would allow an attacker with a malicious tar archive to perform an arbitrary file write and potentially pivot into code execution (e.g. by overwriting a file that the user or system then executes or uses to execute code).

The impact of this vulnerability for downstream API users of this crate is high, per above. However, for this crate's main downstream user (uv), the impact of this vulnerability is low due to its overlap with equivalent user capabilities in source distributions. See GHSA-7j9j-68r2-f35q for additional details.

Input manipulates file paths to reach files outside the intended directory, such as configuration or credential files. Typical impact: unauthorized file read or write outside the intended directory.

Kodem intelligence

Versions 0.5.4 and newer of astral-tokio-tar address the vulnerability above. Users should upgrade to 0.5.4 or newer.

1. What is CVE-2025-59825? CVE-2025-59825 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in astral-tokio-tar (rust), affecting versions <= 0.5.3. It is fixed in 0.5.4. Input manipulates file paths to reach files outside the intended directory, such as configuration or credential files.
2. Which versions of astral-tokio-tar are affected by CVE-2025-59825? astral-tokio-tar (rust) versions <= 0.5.3 is affected.
3. Is there a fix for CVE-2025-59825? Yes. CVE-2025-59825 is fixed in 0.5.4. Upgrade to this version or later.
4. Is CVE-2025-59825 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-59825 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
5. What actually determines whether CVE-2025-59825 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
6. How do I fix CVE-2025-59825? Upgrade astral-tokio-tar to 0.5.4 or later.