Libarchive
CVE-2022-36227
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAI
In libarchive before 3.6.2, the software does not check for an error after calling calloc function that can return with a NULL pointer if the function fails, which leads to a resultant NULL pointer. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability could allow attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Check pointers before dereferencing. Use static analysis tools to detect null pointer paths.
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476), which allows attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer. In libarchive before 3.6.2, the software does not check for an error after calling calloc function that can return with a NULL pointer if the function fails, which leads to a resultant NULL pointer dereference. NOTE: the discoverer cites this CWE-476 remark but third parties dispute the code-execution impact: "In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution." Affected products include: Libarchive, Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Splunk Universal Forwarder. Version information: before 3.6.2.
Know when Libarchive gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
In libarchive before 3.6.2, the software does not check for an error after calling calloc function that can return with a NULL pointer if the function fails, which leads to a resultant NULL pointer dereference. NOTE: the discoverer cites this CWE-476 remark but third parties dispute the code-execution impact: "In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution."
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
More in Libarchive
View allCVE-2025-5914 is an integer overflow vulnerability in libarchive's archive_read_format_rar_seek_data() function that lea
Libarchive before 3.7.4 allows name out-of-bounds access when a ZIP archive has an empty-name file and mac-ext is enable
The sandboxing code in libarchive 3.2.0 and earlier mishandles hardlink archive entries of non-zero data size, which mig
Stack-based buffer overflow in the parse_device function in archive_read_support_format_mtree.c in libarchive before 3.2
Heap-based buffer overflow in the parse_codes function in archive_read_support_format_rar.c in libarchive before 3.2.1 a
Integer overflow in the read_SubStreamsInfo function in archive_read_support_format_7zip.c in libarchive before 3.2.1 al
Multiple integer overflows in the (1) get_time_t_max and (2) get_time_t_min functions in archive_read_support_format_mtr
Null Pointer Dereference vulnerability in libarchive 3.7.6 and earlier when running program bsdtar in function header_pa
Absolute path traversal vulnerability in bsdcpio in libarchive 3.1.2 and earlier allows remote attackers to write to arb
Integer overflow in the ISO parser in libarchive before 3.2.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (appl
Heap-based buffer overflow in the zip_read_mac_metadata function in archive_read_support_format_zip.c in libarchive befo
Libarchive v3.6.0 was discovered to contain an out-of-bounds read via the component zipx_lzma_alone_init. Rated medium s
Exploit-DB