1 files changed, 10 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/archival/tar.c b/archival/tar.c
index 3877ea4db..bd61abd57 100644
--- a/archival/tar.c
+++ b/archival/tar.c
@@ -1196,8 +1196,14 @@ int tar_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
                 /*tar_handle->offset = 0; - already is */
         }
 
+        /* Zero processed headers (== empty file) is not a valid tarball.
+         * We (ab)use bb_got_signal as exitcode here,
+         * because check_errors_in_children() uses _it_ as error indicator.
+         */
+        bb_got_signal = EXIT_FAILURE;
+
         while (get_header_tar(tar_handle) == EXIT_SUCCESS)
-                continue;
+                bb_got_signal = EXIT_SUCCESS; /* saw at least one header, good */
 
         /* Check that every file that should have been extracted was */
         while (tar_handle->accept) {
@@ -1213,8 +1219,9 @@ int tar_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
                 close(tar_handle->src_fd);
 
         if (SEAMLESS_COMPRESSION || OPT_COMPRESS) {
+                /* Set bb_got_signal to 1 if a child died with !0 exitcode */
                 check_errors_in_children(0);
-                return bb_got_signal;
         }
-        return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+
+        return bb_got_signal;
 }