CVE-2020-36193

Tar.php in Archive_Tar through 1.4.11 allows write operations with Directory Traversal due to inadequate checking of symbolic links, a related issue to CVE-2020-28948.

CVSS: 7.5Highscored by CISA
Exploited in the wild: Yes, in CISA KEV since 25 Aug 2022CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 15 Sept 2022
EPSS: 70.6%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 0.7% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
Published: 18 Jan 2021analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Do first. Apply updates per vendor instructions. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)

Summary

Triage

Attack surface: Server-side
Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: network
Weaknesses: CWE-22 Path Traversal
CWE-59 Common Weakness
Can a WAF block it?: Yes. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Products named in our analysis

php:archive_tar
fedoraproject:fedora
debian:debian_linux
drupal:drupal

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? Yes. Path traversal sends `../` sequences in the request, which WAF rules catch, including the common encodings.

Also consider: canonical path validation

Based on the weakness type only; no CVE-specific evidence yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Listed since 25 Aug 2022.
CISA due date: 15 Sept 2022, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Public exploit code: None on record in Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei templates or PoC-in-GitHub.
CISA SSVC: exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact partialAssessed by CISA 4 Feb 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

Timeline

18 Jan 2021Published
25 Aug 2022Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)583 days (about 2 years) later
15 Sept 2022CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
4 Feb 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active874 days (about 2 years) later
21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated259 days (about 9 months) later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com387 days (about 1 year) later

CVSS vector

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

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network.	Reachable over the internet or any routable network.
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	NoneThe attacker needs no prior access.	The attacker needs no prior access.
User interaction	NoneNo victim action needed.	No victim action needed.
Scope	UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.	Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality	NoneNo data disclosure.	No data disclosure.
Integrity	HighComplete modification possible.	Complete modification possible.
Availability	NoneThe service stays up.	The service stays up.

Common questions

Is CVE-2020-36193 being exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-36193 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.

How severe is CVE-2020-36193?

CVE-2020-36193 is rated High with a CVSS score of 7.5. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2020-36193?

Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2020-36193. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.

What does CVE-2020-36193 affect?

CVE-2020-36193 affects php:archive_tar, fedoraproject:fedora, debian:debian_linux, drupal:drupal. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

11 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Advisories (6)

security.gentoo.org /glsa/202101-23
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YKD5WEFA4WT6AV
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FOZNK4FIIV7FSF
debian.org /security/2021/dsa-4894
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/VJQQYDAOWHD6RD
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/42GPGVVFTLJYAK

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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