I noticed that "python3 -m tarfile -x archive.tar" uses absolute paths by default, whereas the UNIX tar command doesn't by default. The UNIX tar command requires to add explicitly --absolute-paths (-P) option.

I suggest to add a boolean absolute_path option to tarfile, disabled by default.

Example to create such archive. See that tar also removes "/" by default and requires to pass explicitly -P:

$ cd $HOME
# /home/haypo
$ echo TEST > test
$ tar -cf test.tar /home/haypo/test
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names

$ rm -f test.tar
$ tar -P -cf test.tar /home/haypo/test
$ rm -f test


Extracting such archive using tar is safe *by default*:

$ mkdir z
$ cd z
$ tar -xf ~/test.tar
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
$ find
.
./home
./home/haypo
./home/haypo/test


Extracting such archive using Python is unsafe:

$ python3 -m tarfile -e ~/test.tar
$ cat ~/test
TEST
$ pwd
/home/haypo/z

Python creates files outside the current directory which is unsafe, wheras tar doesn't.

The CLI was added in Issue 13477. I didn’t see any discussion of traversal attacks there, so maybe it was overlooked. Perhaps there should also be a warning, like with the Tarfile.extract and “extractall” methods.

However I did see one of the goals was to keep the CLI simple, which I agree with. I would suggest that the CLI get this proposed behaviour by default (matching the default behaviour of modern “tar” commands), with no option to restore the current less-robust behaviour.

To implement it, I suggest to fix the module internals first: Issue 21109 and/or Issue 17102.

FWIW BSD calls the option “--absolute-paths” (plural paths) <https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?tar%281%29#OPTIONS>, while Gnu calls it “--absolute-names” <https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_chapter/tar_6.html#SEC121>. Both these options disable other checks, such as for parent directories (..) and external symbolic link targets, so I think the term “absolute” is too specific. But please use at least replace the underscore with a dash or hyphen: “--absolute-path”, not “--absolute_path”.