Skip to content

Pair tarfile hard-link / symlink checks with the correct predicate#38390

Open
Chessing234 wants to merge 1 commit intoopenedx:masterfrom
Chessing234:fix/extract-archive-symlink-hardlink-swap
Open

Pair tarfile hard-link / symlink checks with the correct predicate#38390
Chessing234 wants to merge 1 commit intoopenedx:masterfrom
Chessing234:fix/extract-archive-symlink-hardlink-swap

Conversation

@Chessing234
Copy link
Copy Markdown

Bug

_check_tarinfo in openedx/core/lib/extract_archive.py reports the
wrong link type when it blocks an unsafe archive member: a malicious
symbolic link is logged and raised as a "Hard link", and a malicious
hard link is logged and raised as a "Symlink".

Root cause

if finfo.issym() and _is_bad_link(finfo, base):
    log.debug(\"File %r is blocked: Hard link to %r\", finfo.name, finfo.linkname)
    raise SuspiciousOperation(\"Hard link\")
if finfo.islnk() and _is_bad_link(finfo, base):
    log.debug(\"File %r is blocked: Symlink to %r\", finfo.name, finfo.linkname)
    raise SuspiciousOperation(\"Symlink\")

Per Python's tarfile module:

  • TarInfo.issym()Return True if it is a symbolic link.
  • TarInfo.islnk()Return True if it is a hard link.

So the predicate guarding each branch is the opposite of its label and
debug message. Both kinds of unsafe link are still blocked (because both
arms exist), but the error message and log line attribute the wrong
category — which is misleading for operators looking at the log and for
any downstream code keying off the SuspiciousOperation reason string.

Why the fix is correct

  • finfo.islnk() is the authoritative hard-link predicate, so it
    belongs with the "Hard link" label and debug line.
  • finfo.issym() is the symbolic-link predicate, so it belongs with
    the "Symlink" label and debug line.
  • The fix only swaps the two predicates; both raise sites and the
    subsequent finfo.isdev() check are unchanged, and every unsafe link
    remains blocked.

Change

openedx/core/lib/extract_archive.py: swap finfo.issym() and
finfo.islnk() in _check_tarinfo so each predicate matches its
block label. Two-line change.

_check_tarinfo guarded the "Hard link" branch with finfo.issym() and
the "Symlink" branch with finfo.islnk(). Those predicates are swapped:
tarfile.TarInfo.issym() returns True for symbolic links, and
TarInfo.islnk() returns True for hard links. As a result a bad
symbolic link raises SuspiciousOperation("Hard link") and a bad hard
link raises SuspiciousOperation("Symlink"), and the debug log attributes
the wrong kind of link to the offending archive member. Swap the
predicates so they match their block labels and debug messages. Both
kinds of unsafe link remain blocked, so security behaviour is unchanged;
only the reported classification is corrected.
@openedx-webhooks
Copy link
Copy Markdown

Thanks for the pull request, @Chessing234!

This repository is currently maintained by @openedx/wg-maintenance-openedx-platform.

Once you've gone through the following steps feel free to tag them in a comment and let them know that your changes are ready for engineering review.

🔘 Get product approval

If you haven't already, check this list to see if your contribution needs to go through the product review process.

  • If it does, you'll need to submit a product proposal for your contribution, and have it reviewed by the Product Working Group.
    • This process (including the steps you'll need to take) is documented here.
  • If it doesn't, simply proceed with the next step.
🔘 Provide context

To help your reviewers and other members of the community understand the purpose and larger context of your changes, feel free to add as much of the following information to the PR description as you can:

  • Dependencies

    This PR must be merged before / after / at the same time as ...

  • Blockers

    This PR is waiting for OEP-1234 to be accepted.

  • Timeline information

    This PR must be merged by XX date because ...

  • Partner information

    This is for a course on edx.org.

  • Supporting documentation
  • Relevant Open edX discussion forum threads
🔘 Submit a signed contributor agreement (CLA)

⚠️ We ask all contributors to the Open edX project to submit a signed contributor agreement or indicate their institutional affiliation.
Please see the CONTRIBUTING file for more information.

If you've signed an agreement in the past, you may need to re-sign.
See The New Home of the Open edX Codebase for details.

Once you've signed the CLA, please allow 1 business day for it to be processed.
After this time, you can re-run the CLA check by adding a comment below that you have signed it.
If the CLA check continues to fail, you can tag the @openedx/cla-problems team in a comment for further assistance.

🔘 Get a green build

If one or more checks are failing, continue working on your changes until this is no longer the case and your build turns green.

Details
Where can I find more information?

If you'd like to get more details on all aspects of the review process for open source pull requests (OSPRs), check out the following resources:

When can I expect my changes to be merged?

Our goal is to get community contributions seen and reviewed as efficiently as possible.

However, the amount of time that it takes to review and merge a PR can vary significantly based on factors such as:

  • The size and impact of the changes that it introduces
  • The need for product review
  • Maintenance status of the parent repository

💡 As a result it may take up to several weeks or months to complete a review and merge your PR.

@openedx-webhooks openedx-webhooks added the open-source-contribution PR author is not from Axim or 2U label Apr 20, 2026
@github-project-automation github-project-automation Bot moved this to Needs Triage in Contributions Apr 20, 2026
@mphilbrick211 mphilbrick211 moved this from Needs Triage to Needs Tests Run or CLA Signed in Contributions Apr 22, 2026
@mphilbrick211 mphilbrick211 added the needs test run Author's first PR to this repository, awaiting test authorization from Axim label Apr 22, 2026
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

needs test run Author's first PR to this repository, awaiting test authorization from Axim open-source-contribution PR author is not from Axim or 2U

Projects

Status: Needs Tests Run or CLA Signed

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

3 participants