tar is vulnerable to arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability exists as a heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way tar expanded archive files. If a user were tricked into expanding a specially-crafted archive, it could cause the tar executable to crash or execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running tar.
kb.juniper.net/InfoCenter/index?page=content&id=JSA10691
kb.juniper.net/InfoCenter/index?page=content&id=JSA10705
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-March/036668.html
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-March/037395.html
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-March/037401.html
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-March/038134.html
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-March/038149.html
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-05/msg00001.html
osvdb.org/62950
secunia.com/advisories/38869
secunia.com/advisories/38988
secunia.com/advisories/39008
security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201111-11.xml
www.agrs.tu-berlin.de/index.php?id=78327
www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2010:065
www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#moderate
www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0141.html
www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0142.html
www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0144.html
www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0145.html
www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/514503/100/0/threaded
www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2456-1
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/0628
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/0629
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/0639
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/0687
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/0728
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/0729
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/1107
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2010:0141
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=564368
issues.rpath.com/browse/RPL-3219
oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10277
oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6907