Arbitrary Remote Code Execution via `_attn_implementation_internal` Config Injection in huggingface/transformers
Published May 24, 2026
7.8
HIGHCVSS 3.0
EPSS 0.60%
Description
A critical remote code execution vulnerability exists in all versions of the HuggingFace transformers library prior to version 5.3.0. The vulnerability allows an attacker to craft a malicious `config.json` file containing the `_attn_implementation_internal` field set to an attacker-controlled HuggingFace Hub repository ID. When a victim loads this model using the standard `AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained()` API, the library downloads and executes arbitrary Python code from the attacker's repository with the victim's full OS privileges. This issue arises due to unfiltered deserialization of configuration attributes, insufficient sanitization of internal fields, and unsandboxed execution of downloaded kernels. The vulnerability bypasses the `trust_remote_code` security mechanism, is invisible to the victim, and exploits the standard documented usage pattern, making it particularly severe. Users are advised to upgrade to version 5.3.0 or later to mitigate this issue.
Affected products
-
- Version unspecifiedStatusaffectedConstraints<5.3.0
- Version
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huggingface | Huggingface/transformers | n/a |
|
- < 5.3.0
No data.
No Red Hat product state for this CVE.
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
References (4)
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-29pf-2h5f-8g72 Advisory
- https://github.com/huggingface/transformers/commit/a7f8e7ff37d87d1a1a0c8cf607971c607741452f Patch
- https://huntr.com/bounties/1f693a6e-6836-4b8b-a0bd-ca036fba8884 ExploitThird Party Advisory
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-4372
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-29pf-2h5f-8g72 | Advisory | |
| https://github.com/huggingface/transformers/commit/a7f8e7ff37d87d1a1a0c8cf607971c607741452f | Patch | |
| https://huntr.com/bounties/1f693a6e-6836-4b8b-a0bd-ca036fba8884 | ExploitThird Party Advisory | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-4372 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.