Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-5751

RCE in Litellm 1.35.8

Published
27 June 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0088 56th percentile
Risk Priority 78 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-5751 is a critical-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Litellm Litellm. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 44% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

This vulnerability is AI-related — categorised as APIs and Models; 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.

BerriAI/litellm version v1.35.8 contains a remote code execution vulnerability in the add_deployment function. This component decodes and decrypts base64-encoded environment variables before assigning them to os.environ, enabling code injection when the get_secret function later processes the values. The flaw is reachable through the /config/update endpoint and requires the server to be configured with Google KMS plus a database backend for storing models. It is tracked as CVE-2024-5751 with a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8 and maps to CWE-94.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can submit a malicious payload to the configuration update endpoint. Once stored, the payload executes with the privileges of the litellm process when get_secret is invoked, resulting in arbitrary code execution on the host.

The EPSS probability for this CVE remains flat at 0.0536 with no material rise after disclosure. Details are documented in the referenced huntr.com bounty reports.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

BerriAI/litellm version v1.35.8 contains a vulnerability where an attacker can achieve remote code execution. The vulnerability exists in the `add_deployment` function, which decodes and decrypts environment variables from base64 and assigns them to `os.environ`. An attacker can exploit this by…

more

sending a malicious payload to the `/config/update` endpoint, which is then processed and executed by the server when the `get_secret` function is triggered. This requires the server to use Google KMS and a database to store a model.

CWE(s)

AI Security AnalysisAI

AI Category
APIs and Models
Risk Domain
Supply Chain and Deployment
OWASP Top 10 for LLMs 2025
None mapped
Classification Reason
BerriAI/litellm (LiteLLM) is a proxy server and library providing a unified API interface for calling various LLM providers and models, directly fitting the APIs and Models category. The vulnerability occurs in deployment configuration handling for models using Google KMS.

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.002 AppleScript Execution
Adversaries may abuse AppleScript for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.005 Visual Basic Execution
Adversaries may abuse Visual Basic (VB) for execution.
T1059.006 Python Execution
Adversaries may abuse Python commands and scripts for execution.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-59821Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2024-4889Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2024-6825Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2026-42203Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2026-40217Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2024-2952Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2024-5710Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2024-4888Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2026-59820Same product: Litellm Litellm
CVE-2024-6587Same product: Litellm Litellm

Affected Assets

litellm
litellm
1.35.8

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.3.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation finds code paths that accept and execute externally influenced strings.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from being used to construct executable code without neutralization.

Least privilege limits the damage an injected code fragment can perform once executed.

Requiring documented secure development standards and tools enforces use of safe code-generation APIs and escaping.

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-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).

PR.DS-10 none match
prevents

PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.

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.

prevents

Banning unapproved code samples and unauthenticated web services, combined with secure-coding standards and SAST, prevents the dynamic generation or inclusion of attacker-supplied code.

none

Controls that restrict unauthorized or malicious code from being introduced via external networks or removable media limit opportunities for an attacker to inject and execute arbitrary code.

References