A significant vulnerability, dubbed “TARmageddon,” has been uncovered in popular Rust libraries, posing a serious risk to software supply chains. Tracked as CVE-2025-62518, this high-severity flaw could allow attackers to execute malicious code on systems, affecting everything from development pipelines to consumer applications. The issue highlights the persistent challenges of securing open-source software, especially when widely used code becomes unmaintained.
What is TARmageddon?
TARmageddon is a logic flaw discovered by researchers at the cybersecurity firm Edera. It exists in the async-tar Rust library and its widely used fork, tokio-tar, which has millions of downloads. The vulnerability is a “desynchronization issue.” It allows an attacker to craft a special TAR archive file that tricks a system into extracting hidden, malicious files.
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The bug occurs when a program processes a TAR file containing inconsistent size information in its headers. The parser fails to skip over a nested archive, instead treating its contents as legitimate files. This allows an attacker to overwrite critical system files or inject malware, potentially leading to remote code execution. The problem is made worse because the most popular library, tokio-tar, is considered “abandonware,” meaning it is no longer actively maintained.
What does this mean for businesses?
For corporate stakeholders, TARmageddon represents a direct threat to the software supply chain. Many development tools, containerization frameworks, and package managers rely on vulnerable libraries. An attack could compromise build environments, inject malicious code into company software, and lead to operational downtime. This could result in significant financial and reputational damage.
IT and security leaders must act swiftly. The first step is to audit your software dependencies to identify any use of async-tar or tokio-tar. If found, developers should immediately upgrade to a patched version, such as astral-tokio-tar. It is also wise to review security protocols for file extraction and implement sandboxing where possible to limit potential damage.
How does this affect consumers?
While TARmageddon is a technical flaw, it has real-world consequences for consumers. The applications and services you use daily may have been built using these vulnerable components. A successful attack could lead to malicious software updates that install malware on your devices or steal personal information.
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The best defense for consumers is vigilance. Always keep your software and applications updated, as developers are working to patch this vulnerability across the ecosystem. Download software only from official sources and app stores. Maintaining up-to-date antivirus software and a firewall provides an essential layer of protection against potential threats that may emerge from this flaw.
Photo credit: The feature image is symbolic and has been done by Maksim Chernyshev.
