# ptoomey3/evilarc

Create tar/zip archives that can exploit directory traversal vulnerabilities

Repository: https://github.com/ptoomey3/evilarc
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/evilarc
Language: Python
License Family: other
Last push: 2021-06-03T13:36:21+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5666, "days_push": 1917, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1055, forks 188 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:24.387799+00:00)

## What it is
evilarc is a Python CLI tool that creates tar and zip archives containing files with directory traversal characters in their embedded paths. It is used to generate malicious archives that exploit vulnerable extraction libraries to write files to arbitrary locations on a target system.

## Use cases
- create zip files that exploit directory traversal on extraction
- test whether an application is vulnerable to zip slip
- generate malicious tar archives for penetration testing
- demonstrate archive extraction vulnerabilities in Java or PHP libraries
- craft archives that write files outside the extraction directory

## When to choose
- you are penetration testing or security researching archive extraction flaws
- you need to test whether your own code safely handles malicious zip/tar paths
- you want a simple Python tool to craft traversal archives

## When to avoid
- you need a general-purpose archive creation tool
- you require a maintained project with an explicit license and active releases
- you need protection against zip slip rather than a way to demonstrate it

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: security, cli, compression
- domain: security, penetration-testing, developer-tools
- platform: python, cli, cross-platform
- tags: zip-slip, directory-traversal, archive-exploitation, penetration-testing-tool

## Member repositories
- ptoomey3/evilarc (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:24.387799+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:58:40.354349+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ptoomey3/evilarc (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:24.387799+00:00, sha 9b6ca58a025d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.