GHSA-36fq-jgmw-4r9c is a high-severity (CVSS 7.3) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in keras. A fix is available for keras — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Keras is vulnerable to Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-36fq-jgmw-4r9c.
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
GHSA-36fq-jgmw-4r9c 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 377,166 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
kerasReal-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
Arbitrary Code Execution in Keras
Keras versions prior to 3.11.0 allow for arbitrary code execution when loading a crafted .keras model archive, even when safe_mode=True.
The issue arises because the archive’s config.json is parsed before layer deserialization. This can invoke keras.config.enable_unsafe_deserialization(), effectively disabling safe mode from within the loading process itself. An attacker can place this call first in the archive and then include a Lambda layer whose function is deserialized from a pickle, leading to the execution of attacker-controlled Python code as soon as a victim loads the model file.
Exploitation requires a user to open an untrusted model; no additional privileges are needed. The fix in version 3.11.0 enforces safe-mode semantics before reading any user-controlled configuration and prevents the toggling of unsafe deserialization via the config file.
Affected versions: < 3.11.0 Patched version: 3.11.0
It is recommended to upgrade to version 3.11.0 or later and to avoid opening untrusted model files.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | keras | all versions | 3.11.0pip install --upgrade 'keras==3.11.0' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for keras, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update keras to 3.11.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-36fq-jgmw-4r9c 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 GHSA-36fq-jgmw-4r9c can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-36fq-jgmw-4r9c. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 | rhoai/odh-modelmesh-runtime-adapter-rhel9:v2.25.1-1764825096 | RHSA-2025:23531 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-36fq-jgmw-4r9c in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-36fq-jgmw-4r9c across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.