|
| 1 | +# Mismatched compression in local file header and central directory |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +When processing entries in a ZIP file it is assumed that the local file header |
| 4 | +and the central directory match, which does not need to be the case. One field |
| 5 | +that is in both is the `compression method`. If these do not match, then the |
| 6 | +different programs don't behave in the same way. |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +The two files `test_mismatched_compression_central.zip` and |
| 9 | +`test_mismatched_compression_local.zip` are modified versions of `test.zip` and |
| 10 | +both contain a file (compressed with "deflate") where the compression method in |
| 11 | +the header has been changed to "bzip". The first file has the wrong value in |
| 12 | +the central directory, the other in the the local file header. |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +Extracting these with different programs reveals some interesting behaviour: |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +``` |
| 17 | +$ unzip test_mismatched_compression_central.zip |
| 18 | +Archive: test_mismatched_compression_central.zip |
| 19 | +This is a zipfile comment. |
| 20 | + inflating: test.txt |
| 21 | + extracting: gophercolor16x16.png |
| 22 | +``` |
| 23 | +The files are correctly extracted, and the exit code of the program is `0` |
| 24 | +(success): |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | +``` |
| 27 | +$ echo $? |
| 28 | +0 |
| 29 | +``` |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +This means that `unzip` ignores the `compression method` field in the central |
| 32 | +directory and only looks at the local file header. |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +When unpacking the one with the value changed in the local file header `unzip` |
| 35 | +is not successful: |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +``` |
| 38 | +$ unzip test_mismatched_compression_local.zip |
| 39 | +Archive: test_mismatched_compression_local.zip |
| 40 | +This is a zipfile comment. |
| 41 | + bunzipping: test.txt |
| 42 | +``` |
| 43 | + |
| 44 | +and the process ends there. Only a 0 byte file `test.txt` is extracted and the |
| 45 | +exit code is `6`, meaning there was an error: |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +``` |
| 48 | +$ echo $? |
| 49 | +6 |
| 50 | +``` |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +`p7zip` has similar behaviour, although it reports an error in both cases. |
| 53 | + |
| 54 | +``` |
| 55 | +$ 7z x test_mismatched_compression_central.zip |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +7-Zip [64] 16.02 : Copyright (c) 1999-2016 Igor Pavlov : 2016-05-21 |
| 58 | +p7zip Version 16.02 (locale=en_US.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,64 bits,8 CPUs Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6770HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz (506E3),ASM,AES-NI) |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | +Scanning the drive for archives: |
| 61 | +1 file, 1170 bytes (2 KiB) |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +Extracting archive: test_mismatched_compression_central.zip |
| 64 | + |
| 65 | +ERRORS: |
| 66 | +Headers Error |
| 67 | + |
| 68 | +-- |
| 69 | +Path = test_mismatched_compression_central.zip |
| 70 | +Type = zip |
| 71 | +ERRORS: |
| 72 | +Headers Error |
| 73 | +Physical Size = 1170 |
| 74 | +Comment = This is a zipfile comment. |
| 75 | + |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +Archives with Errors: 1 |
| 79 | + |
| 80 | +Open Errors: 1 |
| 81 | +``` |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +When the error is in the central directory the file `test.txt` is successfully |
| 84 | +unpacked. |
| 85 | + |
| 86 | +``` |
| 87 | +$ 7z x test_mismatched_compression_local.zip |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | +7-Zip [64] 16.02 : Copyright (c) 1999-2016 Igor Pavlov : 2016-05-21 |
| 90 | +p7zip Version 16.02 (locale=en_US.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,64 bits,8 CPUs Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6770HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz (506E3),ASM,AES-NI) |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | +Scanning the drive for archives: |
| 93 | +1 file, 1170 bytes (2 KiB) |
| 94 | + |
| 95 | +Extracting archive: test_mismatched_compression_local.zip |
| 96 | + |
| 97 | +ERRORS: |
| 98 | +Headers Error |
| 99 | + |
| 100 | +-- |
| 101 | +Path = test_mismatched_compression_local.zip |
| 102 | +Type = zip |
| 103 | +ERRORS: |
| 104 | +Headers Error |
| 105 | +Physical Size = 1170 |
| 106 | +Comment = This is a zipfile comment. |
| 107 | + |
| 108 | +ERROR: Data Error : test.txt |
| 109 | + |
| 110 | +Sub items Errors: 1 |
| 111 | + |
| 112 | +Archives with Errors: 1 |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | +Open Errors: 1 |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +Sub items Errors: 1 |
| 117 | +``` |
| 118 | + |
| 119 | +When the error is in the local file header the file `test.txt` is not unpacked |
| 120 | +and instead a 0 byte file is created. |
0 commit comments