15-year-old Python tarfile flaw lurks in ‘over 350,000’ code projects


At least 350,000 open source projects are believed to be potentially vulnerable to exploitation via a Python module flaw that has remained unfixed for 15 years.

On Tuesday, security firm Trellix said its threat researchers had encountered a vulnerability in Python’s tarfile module, which provides a way to read and write compressed bundles of files known as tar archives. Initially, the bug hunters thought they’d chanced upon a zero-day.

It turned out to be about a 5,500-day issue: the bug has been living its best life for the past decade-and-a-half while awaiting extinction.

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Source: The Register