CVE-2024-52803 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in llamafactory. A fix is available for llamafactory — see the affected versions and patch details below.
LLama Factory Remote OS Command Injection Vulnerability
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-52803.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2024-52803 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
llamafactoryReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
A critical remote OS command injection vulnerability has been identified in the Llama Factory training process. This vulnerability arises from improper handling of user input, allowing malicious actors to execute arbitrary OS commands on the host system. The issue is caused by insecure usage of the Popen function with shell=True, coupled with unsanitized user input. Immediate remediation is required to mitigate the risk.
Affected Version
Llama Factory versions <=0.9.0 are affected by this vulnerability.
Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability allows attackers to:
- Execute arbitrary OS commands on the server.
- Potentially compromise sensitive data or escalate privileges.
- Deploy malware or create persistent backdoors in the system.
This significantly increases the risk of data breaches and operational disruption.
Root Cause
The vulnerability originates from the training process where the output_dir value, obtained from the user input, is injected into the popen function without any sanitization. Furthermore, popen is invoked in a unsafe way by enabling the interact shell (shell=True), leading to remote OS command injection vulnerability.
Vulnerable snippet:
# https://github.com/hiyouga/LLaMA-Factory/blob/bd639a137e6f46e1a0005cc91572f5f1ec894f74/src/llamafactory/webui/runner.py#L304-L323
def _launch(self, data: Dict["Component", Any], do_train: bool) -> Generator[Dict["Component", Any], None, None]:
...
args = self._parse_train_args(data) if do_train else self._parse_eval_args(data)
...
self.trainer = Popen(f"llamafactory-cli train {save_cmd(args)}", env=env, shell=True)
yield from self.monitor()
Proof of Concept (PoC)
Steps to Reproduce
-
Deploy llama factory
-
Execute the exploitation script from: https://gist.github.com/superboy-zjc/f2d2b93ae511c445ba97e144b70e534d
python3 llama-factory-rce.py --url http://127.0.0.1:7861 --cmd "curl XXX" --trace
Bad actors are able to execute any OS command as they want.
Remediation Recommendations
Avoid using shell=True in Popen.
- Instead, pass the command and its arguments as a list. This prevents user inputs from being executed as part of a shell command.
cmd = [
"llamafactory-cli",
"train",
*save_cmd(args).split(),
]
self.trainer = Popen(cmd, env=env)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | llamafactory | all versions | 0.9.1pip install --upgrade 'llamafactory==0.9.1' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for llamafactory, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update llamafactory to 0.9.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-52803 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2024-52803 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-52803. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-52803 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-52803 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.