CVE-2025-14921
Description
A flaw was found in the Hugging Face Transformers library. The parsing of model files fails to validate user-supplied data, causing a deserialization of untrusted data. An attacker can exploit this issue by providing a malicious Transformer-XL model, resulting in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user processing the file.
Statement
To exploit this issue, an attacker must convince a user to process a specially crafted Transformer-XL model file or visiting a malicious page, limiting the possibility of exploitation. Additionally, model files are not typically processed by users with administrative privileges, limiting the potential for a full system compromise. Due to these reasons, this vulnerability has been rated with an important severity.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, users should avoid processing Transformer-XL model files from untrusted or unverified sources. Ensure that all Transformer-XL model files processed by the Hugging Face Transformers library originate from trusted repositories or have been verified for integrity. If that is not possible, consider processing untrusted models within an isolated sandbox environment.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 8.8 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity
Technical Impact: Modify Application Data; Unexpected State
Attackers can modify unexpected objects or data that was assumed to be safe from modification. Deserialized data or code could be modified without using the provided accessor functions, or unexpected functions could be invoked.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
If a function is making an assumption on when to terminate, based on a sentry in a string, it could easily never terminate.
Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context
The consequences can vary widely, because it depends on which objects or methods are being deserialized, and how they are used. Making an assumption that the code in the deserialized object is valid is dangerous and can enable exploitation. One example is attackers using gadget chains to perform unauthorized actions, such as generating a shell.
Frequently Asked Questions
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