CVE-2020-28949

HIGHNVD 7.89.0▲Trending — 4 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild

7.8

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)
EPSS: 99.8%
KEV: ⚠ Exploited

Published

November 19, 2020

Last Modified

November 7, 2025

References (25)

cve@mitrehttp://packetstormsecurity.com/files/161095/PEAR-Archive_Tar-Arbitrary-File-Write.html
cve@mitrehttps://github.com/pear/Archive_Tar/issues/33
cve@mitrehttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00045.html
cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/42GPGVVFTLJYAKRI75IVB5R45NYQGEUR/
cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/4V35LBRM6HBCXBVCITKQ4UEBTXO2EG7B/
cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/5KSFM672XW3X6BR7TVKRD63SLZGKK437/
cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KWM4CTMEGAC4I2CHYNJVSROY4CVXVEUT/
cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/NBYZSHYTIOBK6V7C4N7TP6KIKCRKLVWP/
cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/VJQQYDAOWHD6RDITDRPHFW7WY6BS3V5N/
cve@mitrehttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202101-23
cve@mitrehttps://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4817
cve@mitrehttps://www.drupal.org/sa-core-2020-013
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/161095/PEAR-Archive_Tar-Arbitrary-File-Write.html
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/pear/Archive_Tar/issues/33
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00045.html

Patch Availability(6)

Vendor / Ecosystem	Fixed in / Patch	Released	Source
ubuntu	drupal7 (7.26-1ubuntu0.1+esm2) @ trusty	2026-06-03	ubuntu
ubuntu	php-pear (1:1.10.9+submodules+notgz-1ubuntu0.20.10.1) @ groovy	2026-06-03	ubuntu
ubuntu	drupal7 (7.44-1ubuntu1~16.04.0+esm2) @ xenial	2026-06-03	ubuntu
redhat	php-pear-1:1.9.4-23.el7_9	2022-11-02	redhat
redhat	php:7.4-8060020220907094815.5caa48ff	2022-09-15	redhat
redhat	php:7.4-8040020220907095003.d7c09045	2022-09-15	redhat

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)

Package	Vulnerable range	Fixed in	Dependents
drupal/core	8.0.0 ... 9.0.8 (158 versions)	9.0.9	—
pear/archive_tar	1.3.11 ... 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 20× in last 7d / 20× in last 30d)

Every time one of our enrichment pipelines (NVD, MITRE cvelistV5, EPSS, CISA KEV, GHSA, OSV, vendor advisories) ran against this CVE. Most recent first.

2026-06-03 19:09 UTCkev_newly_listed
2026-06-03 17:15 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-03 17:15 UTCVendor advisory
2026-06-03 13:11 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-03 13:11 UTCVendor advisory
2026-06-03 09:07 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-03 09:07 UTCVendor advisory
2026-06-03 05:03 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-03 05:03 UTCVendor advisory
2026-06-03 00:59 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-03 00:59 UTCVendor advisory
2026-06-02 20:53 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-02 20:53 UTCVendor advisory
2026-06-02 18:32 UTCkev_newly_listed
2026-06-02 16:49 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-02 16:49 UTCVendor advisory
2026-06-02 12:45 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-02 12:45 UTCVendor advisory
2026-06-02 08:41 UTCEG score recompute
2026-06-02 08:41 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 ↗

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

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CVE-2020-28949

📅 Published

🔄 Last Modified

🔗 References (25)