CVE-2026-4372
Arbitrary Remote Code Execution via `_attn_implementation_internal` Config Injection in huggingface/transformers
CVE-2026-4372 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) in Huggingface Huggingface/transformers, published May 24, 2026. Public exploit code exists. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.70%, the 53rd percentile. Fixed in transformers 5.3.0.
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.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.8
Arbitrary Remote Code Execution via `_attn_implementation_internal` Config Injection in huggingface/transformers
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.
- Record
CVE-2026-4372- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-1066
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-31598
7.8
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.
- Record
EUVD-2026-31598- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-29pf-2h5f-8g72
7.8
HuggingFace transformers vulnerable to remote code execution
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.
- Record
GHSA-29pf-2h5f-8g72- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-502, CWE-1066
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.8
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.
- Record
CVE-2026-4372- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-1066, CWE-502
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.8
Arbitrary Remote Code Execution via `_attn_implementation_internal` Config Injection in huggingface/transformers
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.
- Record
CVE-2026-4372- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-1066
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-29pf-2h5f-8g72
7.8
HuggingFace transformers vulnerable to remote code execution
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.
- Record
GHSA-29pf-2h5f-8g72- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-1066, CWE-502
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2026-2289
7.8
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.
- Record
PYSEC-2026-2289- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVCLSA-2026-1783386115 No score
TuxCare security update for transformers (1 CVE)
TuxCare rebuilt transformers to address 1 CVE. Fixed in 4.57.6.post2+tuxcare.
- Record
CLSA-2026-1783386115- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
transformersPyPI |
before 5.3.0 | 5.3.0 |
transformersTuxCare:PyPI |
4.57.6 up to 4.57.6.post2+tuxcare, plus listed versions 4.57.6.post1+tuxcare |
4.57.6.post2+tuxcare |
transformersPyPI |
before 5.3.0, plus listed versions 0.12.0.02.1.02.1.12.10.0 Show 45 moreShow less2.11.02.2.02.2.12.2.22.3.02.4.02.4.12.5.02.5.12.6.02.7.02.8.02.9.02.9.13.0.03.0.13.0.23.1.03.2.03.3.03.3.13.4.03.5.03.5.14.0.04.0.0rc14.0.14.1.04.1.14.10.04.10.14.10.24.10.34.11.04.11.14.11.24.11.34.12.04.12.14.12.24.12.34.12.44.12.54.13.04.14.0 |
5.3.0 |
Public exploits
Links only. Every CVE stores no exploit code.
| Source | Link | Date |
|---|---|---|
| PoC in GitHub | alvin21mfmlai/SE6013_Project | 2026-10-14 |
History
| When | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-02 | created | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV, PoC in GitHub |
References
huntr.com/bounties/1f693a6e-6836-4b8b-a0bd-ca036fba8884
github.com/huggingface/transformers/commit/a7f8e7ff37d87d1a1a0c8cf607971c607741452f
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-4372
github.com/advisories/GHSA-29pf-2h5f-8g72
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/4xxx/CVE-2026-4372.json
github.com/huggingface/transformers
Left out here: 162 versions. The JSON record has them.