diff --git a/openedx/core/lib/extract_tar.py b/openedx/core/lib/extract_tar.py
index 37c5e4be71cea3ac4dc4d72ae4d8b1ad596080ff..99c7a9f0ecd2218227e229688029dbe4c018b7b9 100644
--- a/openedx/core/lib/extract_tar.py
+++ b/openedx/core/lib/extract_tar.py
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ def safemembers(members, base):
 
     base = resolved(base)
 
-    # check that we're not trying to import outside of the data_dir
-    if not base.startswith(resolved(settings.DATA_DIR)):
+    # check that we're not trying to import outside of the github_repo_root
+    if not base.startswith(resolved(settings.GITHUB_REPO_ROOT)):
         raise SuspiciousOperation("Attempted to import course outside of data dir")
 
     for finfo in members: