diff -Naur libarchive-3.5.2-orig/libarchive/archive_read_support_format_mtree.c libarchive-3.5.2/libarchive/archive_read_support_format_mtree.c
--- libarchive-3.5.2-orig/libarchive/archive_read_support_format_mtree.c	2021-08-23 08:32:05.000000000 +1000
+++ libarchive-3.5.2/libarchive/archive_read_support_format_mtree.c	2021-12-12 00:43:11.170839582 +1000
@@ -1675,6 +1675,7 @@
 		__LA_FALLTHROUGH;
 	case 'l':
 		if (strcmp(key, "link") == 0) {
+			parse_escapes(val, NULL);
 			archive_entry_copy_symlink(entry, val);
 			break;
 		}