CVE-2020-28949

HIGHNVD 7.89.0▲
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-08-25), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: cisa_kev, epss, nvd
Trending — 4 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
7.8
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS: 85%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

Archive_Tar through 1.4.10 has :// filename sanitization only to address phar attacks, and thus any other stream-wrapper attack (such as file:// to overwrite files) can still succeed.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
9.0(high)
EG Risk
81(Attend)
EG Risk 81/100SSVC: Attend

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity90% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk.
EPSS
99.7%
KEV
⚠ Exploited

Published

November 19, 2020

Last Modified

November 7, 2025

Advisory Details (10)

Auto-updated Jun 4, 2026
Patch available.
generic

PEAR Archive_Tar: Directory traversal (GLSA 202101-23) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202101-23
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 34 Update: drupal7-7.82-1.fc34 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/VJQQYDAOWHD6RDITDRPHFW7WY6BS3V5N/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 32 Update: php-pear-1.10.12-4.fc32 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/NBYZSHYTIOBK6V7C4N7TP6KIKCRKLVWP/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 33 Update: drupal8-8.9.11-1.fc33 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KWM4CTMEGAC4I2CHYNJVSROY4CVXVEUT/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 32 Update: drupal8-8.9.11-1.fc32 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/5KSFM672XW3X6BR7TVKRD63SLZGKK437/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 33 Update: php-pear-1.10.12-4.fc33 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/4V35LBRM6HBCXBVCITKQ4UEBTXO2EG7B/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 35 Update: drupal7-7.82-1.fc35 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/42GPGVVFTLJYAKRI75IVB5R45NYQGEUR/
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 2466-1] drupal7 security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00045.html
generic

Multiple vulnerabilities through filename manipulation (CVE-2020-28948 and CVE-2020-28949) · Issue #33 · pear/Archive_Tar · GitHub

https://github.com/pear/Archive_Tar/issues/33
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/161095/PEAR-Archive_Tar-Arbitrary-File-Write.html

Patch Availability(6)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuphp-pear (1:1.10.1+submodules+notgz-6ubuntu0.2) @ xenial2026-07-22ubuntu
ubuntudrupal7 (7.44-1ubuntu1~16.04.0+esm2) @ xenial2026-07-22ubuntu
ubuntudrupal7 (7.26-1ubuntu0.1+esm2) @ trusty2026-07-22ubuntu
redhatphp-pear-1:1.9.4-23.el7_92022-11-02redhat
redhatphp:7.4-8060020220907094815.5caa48ff2022-09-15redhat
redhatphp:7.4-8040020220907095003.d7c090452022-09-15redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(2 across 1 ecosystem)
Packagist(2)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
drupal/core8.0.0 ... 9.0.8 (158 versions)9.0.9—
pear/archive_tar1.3.11 ... 1.4.9 (17 versions)1.4.11—

All Vendor Advisories

(6)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 50× in last 7d / 210× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 369 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-07-23 01:52 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-22 22:38 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-22 20:30 UTCVendor advisory
  4. 2026-07-22 19:40 UTCCISA KEV update
  5. 2026-07-22 16:26 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-07-22 16:26 UTCVendor advisory
  7. 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-22 12:22 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-07-22 08:17 UTCVendor advisory
  10. 2026-07-22 04:13 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-07-22 00:09 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-07-21 17:44 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-07-21 14:37 UTCCISA KEV update
  14. 2026-07-21 13:40 UTCVendor advisory
  15. 2026-07-21 09:35 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-07-21 05:30 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-07-21 01:24 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-07-20 21:19 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-07-20 17:13 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-07-20 13:06 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-07-20 09:02 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-07-20 04:57 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-07-20 00:53 UTCVendor advisory
  24. 2026-07-19 20:49 UTCVendor advisory
  25. 2026-07-19 16:45 UTCVendor advisory
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-07-19 12:40 UTCVendor advisory
  2. 2026-07-19 08:36 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-07-19 04:31 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-07-19 04:31 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-19 00:27 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-07-18 20:23 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-07-18 16:18 UTCVendor advisory
  10. 2026-07-18 12:14 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-07-18 08:10 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-07-18 04:06 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-07-18 00:02 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-07-17 19:58 UTCVendor advisory
  15. 2026-07-17 15:54 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-07-17 11:49 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-07-17 07:45 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-07-17 07:45 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-07-17 03:41 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-07-16 23:37 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-07-16 19:33 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-07-16 17:04 UTCCISA KEV update
  23. 2026-07-16 15:29 UTCVendor advisory
  24. 2026-07-16 11:25 UTCVendor advisory
  25. 2026-07-16 07:21 UTCVendor advisory
  26. 2026-07-16 03:17 UTCVendor advisory
  27. 2026-07-15 23:13 UTCVendor advisory
  28. 2026-07-15 19:09 UTCVendor advisory
  29. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-07-15 16:49 UTCCISA KEV update
  32. 2026-07-15 15:04 UTCVendor advisory
  33. 2026-07-15 15:04 UTCCISA KEV update
  34. 2026-07-15 11:00 UTCVendor advisory
  35. 2026-07-15 06:53 UTCVendor advisory
  36. 2026-07-15 02:49 UTCVendor advisory
  37. 2026-07-14 22:46 UTCVendor advisory
  38. 2026-07-14 18:41 UTCVendor advisory
  39. 2026-07-14 18:05 UTCCISA KEV update
  40. 2026-07-14 14:34 UTCVendor advisory
  41. 2026-07-14 10:30 UTCVendor advisory
  42. 2026-07-14 06:26 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-07-14 02:20 UTCVendor advisory
  44. 2026-07-13 22:17 UTCVendor advisory
  45. 2026-07-13 18:12 UTCVendor advisory
  46. 2026-07-13 17:07 UTCCISA KEV update
  47. 2026-07-13 14:08 UTCVendor advisory
  48. 2026-07-13 10:04 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-07-13 05:55 UTCVendor advisory
  52. 2026-07-13 01:51 UTCVendor advisory
  53. 2026-07-12 21:47 UTCVendor advisory
  54. 2026-07-12 17:43 UTCVendor advisory
  55. 2026-07-12 13:39 UTCVendor advisory
  56. 2026-07-12 09:34 UTCVendor advisory
  57. 2026-07-12 05:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-07-12 05:30 UTCVendor advisory
  59. 2026-07-12 01:25 UTCVendor advisory
  60. 2026-07-11 21:21 UTCVendor advisory
  61. 2026-07-11 17:17 UTCVendor advisory
  62. 2026-07-11 13:12 UTCVendor advisory
  63. 2026-07-11 09:08 UTCVendor advisory
  64. 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-07-11 05:04 UTCVendor advisory
  67. 2026-07-11 01:00 UTCVendor advisory
  68. 2026-07-10 20:55 UTCVendor advisory
  69. 2026-07-10 17:52 UTCCISA KEV update
  70. 2026-07-10 16:51 UTCVendor advisory
  71. 2026-07-10 12:47 UTCVendor advisory
  72. 2026-07-10 08:43 UTCVendor advisory
  73. 2026-07-10 04:39 UTCVendor advisory
  74. 2026-07-10 00:33 UTCVendor advisory
  75. 2026-07-09 20:27 UTCVendor advisory

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Metasploitexploit/multi/fileformat/archive_tar_arb_file_write✓ verified
    First seen Nov 17, 2020

    PEAR Archive_Tar 1.4.10 Arbitrary File Write

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same vendor)

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2020-28949?
CVE-2020-28949 is a high vulnerability published on November 19, 2020. Archive_Tar through 1.4.10 has :// filename sanitization only to address phar attacks, and thus any other stream-wrapper attack (such as file:// to overwrite files) can still succeed.
When was CVE-2020-28949 disclosed?
CVE-2020-28949 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on November 19, 2020, with the most recent update on November 7, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2020-28949 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2020-28949 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on August 25, 2022, affecting PEAR Archive_Tar. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate patching attention.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-28949?
CVE-2020-28949 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.0.
Which products are affected by CVE-2020-28949?
CVE-2020-28949 affects PEAR Archive_Tar. The full affected-products list, including version ranges and fixed versions, is shown in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2020-28949?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2020-28949, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2020-28949

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