Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-3568

RCE in Huggingface Transformers ≤ 4.38.0

Published
10 April 2024
Modified
10 October 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.021 80th percentile
Risk Priority 82 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-3568 is a critical-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) vulnerability in Huggingface Transformers. Its CVSS base score is 9.6 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 20% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

This vulnerability is AI-related — categorised as NLP and Transformers; in the Supply Chain and Deployment risk domain.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The huggingface/transformers library is affected by a deserialization vulnerability (CWE-502) that enables arbitrary code execution. The flaw resides in the load_repo_checkpoint() function of the TFPreTrainedModel() class, which invokes pickle.load() on data originating from potentially untrusted sources such as model checkpoints.

An attacker can craft a malicious serialized payload and host it as an apparently benign checkpoint. By tricking a victim into loading that checkpoint during ordinary model training or inference workflows, the attacker achieves remote code execution with the privileges of the loading process. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.6 reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and high impact on confidentiality, integrity Availability.

Public references point to a fix merged in commit 693667b8ac8138b83f8adb6522ddaf42fa07c125 of the transformers repository, along with details published via the huntr.com bounty platform. The EPSS score for this CVE reached a peak of 0.2549 and currently stands at 0.2443.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The huggingface/transformers library is vulnerable to arbitrary code execution through deserialization of untrusted data within the `load_repo_checkpoint()` function of the `TFPreTrainedModel()` class. Attackers can execute arbitrary code and commands by crafting a malicious serialized payload, exploiting the use of `pickle.load()`…

more

on data from potentially untrusted sources. This vulnerability allows for remote code execution (RCE) by deceiving victims into loading a seemingly harmless checkpoint during a normal training process, thereby enabling attackers to execute arbitrary code on the targeted machine.

CWE(s)

AI Security AnalysisAI

AI Category
NLP and Transformers
Risk Domain
Supply Chain and Deployment
OWASP Top 10 for LLMs 2025
None mapped
Classification Reason
The vulnerability is in the huggingface/transformers library, which is a primary library for NLP models and transformer architectures, specifically in the TFPreTrainedModel class for loading checkpoints.

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-14924Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2025-14929Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2025-14920Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2025-14930Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2024-11392Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2024-11394Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2024-11393Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2023-7018Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2023-6730Same product: Huggingface Transformers
CVE-2025-14921Same product: Huggingface Transformers

Affected Assets

huggingface
transformers
≤ 4.38.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can uncover deserialization flaws before deployment.

Input validation directly stops deserialization of untrusted data by ensuring inputs are valid before processing.

Engineering principles such as safe deserialization and input sanitization structurally prevent the weakness from being introduced.

Integrity verification tools can detect malformed or tampered serialized data after the fact.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-02 none match
prevents

PR.PS-02 addresses only post-deployment updates/patching and cannot prevent introduction of unsafe deserialization code, yet it can remediate some instances when the flaw exists in outdated libraries or components.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing includes validation of deserialization routines and the use of untrusted data, reducing the likelihood that unsafe object reconstruction will be deployed.

prevents

Requiring vetted libraries, regular updates and SAST before release reduces the likelihood that deserialization logic will accept and act on attacker-controlled serialized objects.

finds

Regular scanning of third-party libraries and timely patching reduce the likelihood that unsafe deserialization vulnerabilities remain active.

none

Mandatory malware scanning of data received over networks or storage media intercepts malicious serialized payloads before they are deserialized by the target application.

References