{"id":"PYSEC-2026-1576","summary":"LLaMA-Factory allows Code Injection through improper vhead_file safeguards","details":"### Summary\nA critical remote code execution vulnerability was discovered during the Llama Factory training process. This vulnerability arises because the `vhead_file` is loaded without proper safeguards, allowing malicious attackers to execute arbitrary malicious code on the host system simply by passing a malicious `Checkpoint path` parameter through the `WebUI` interface. The attack is stealthy, as the victim remains unaware of the exploitation. The root cause is that the `vhead_file` argument is loaded without the secure parameter `weights_only=True`.\n\nNote: In torch versions \u003c2.6, the default setting is `weights_only=False`, and Llama Factory's `setup.py` only requires `torch\u003e=2.0.0`.\n\n### Affected Version\n\nLlama Factory versions \u003c=0.9.3 are affected by this vulnerability.\n\n### Details\n\n1. In LLaMA Factory's WebUI, when a user sets the `Checkpoint path`, it modifies the `adapter_name_or_path` parameter passed to the training process.\ncode in src/llamafactory/webui/runner.py\n\u003cimg width=\"1040\" alt=\"image-1\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c8bc79e4-ce7d-43c9-b0fd-e37c235e6585\" /\u003e\n\n2. The `adapter_name_or_path` passed to the training process is then used in `src/llamafactory/model/model_utils/valuehead.py` to fetch the corresponding `value_head.bin` file from Hugging Face. This file is subsequently loaded via `torch.load()` without the security parameter `weights_only=True` being set, resulting in remote code execution.\ncode in src/llamafactory/model/model_utils/valuehead.py\n\u003cimg width=\"1181\" alt=\"image-2\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6edbe694-0c60-4a54-bfb3-5e1042c9230d\" /\u003e\n\n### PoC\n\n#### Steps to Reproduce\n\n1. Deploy llama factory.\n2. Remote attack through the WebUI interface\n    1. Configure `Model name` and `Model path`  correctly. For demonstration purposes, we'll use a small model `llamafactory/tiny-random-Llama-3` to accelerate model loading.\n    2. Set `Finetuning method` to `LoRA` and `Train Stage` to `Reward Modeling`. The vulnerability is specifically triggered during the Reward Modeling training stage.\n    3. Input a malicious Hugging Face path in `Checkpoint path` – here we use `paulinsider/llamafactory-hack`. This repository(https://huggingface.co/paulinsider/llamafactory-hack/tree/main ) contains a malicious `value_head.bin` file. The generation method for this file is as follows (it can execute arbitrary attack commands; for demonstration, we configured it to create a `HACKED!` folder).\n    4. Click `Start` to begin training. After a brief wait, a `HACKED!` folder will be created on the server. Note that arbitrary malicious code could be executed through this method.\n\n**The video demonstration of the vulnerability exploitation is available at the** [Google Drive Link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AddKm2mllsXfuvL4Tvbn_WJdjEOYXx4y/view?usp=sharing) \n\n### Impact\nExploitation of this vulnerability allows remote attackers to:\n - Execute arbitrary malicious code / OS commands on the server.\n - Potentially compromise sensitive data or escalate privileges.\n - Deploy malware or create persistent backdoors in the system.\nThis significantly increases the risk of data breaches and operational disruption.","aliases":["CVE-2025-53002","GHSA-xj56-p8mm-qmxj"],"modified":"2026-07-07T17:46:54.104717029Z","published":"2026-07-07T16:02:55.806852Z","references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/hiyouga/LLaMA-Factory/security/advisories/GHSA-xj56-p8mm-qmxj"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-53002"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/hiyouga/LLaMA-Factory/commit/bb7bf51554d4ba8432333c35a5e3b52705955ede"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/hiyouga/LLaMA-Factory"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://pypi.org/project/llamafactory"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-xj56-p8mm-qmxj"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"llamafactory","ecosystem":"PyPI","purl":"pkg:pypi/llamafactory"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"last_affected":"0.9.3"}]}],"versions":["0.7.1","0.8.0","0.8.1","0.8.2","0.8.3","0.9.0","0.9.1","0.9.2","0.9.3"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/blob/main/vulns/llamafactory/PYSEC-2026-1576.yaml"}}],"schema_version":"1.7.5","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H"}]}