GHSA-538c-55jv-c5g9
HIGHGHSA-538c-55jv-c5g9 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.6) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in onnx. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-538c-55jv-c5g9 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
ONNX: Malicious ONNX models can crash servers by exploiting unprotected object settings.
Blast Radius
onnxReal-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
The ExternalDataInfo class in ONNX was using Python’s setattr() function to load metadata (like file paths or data lengths) directly from an ONNX model file. The problem? It didn’t check if the "keys" in the file were valid. Because it blindly trusted the file, an attacker could craft a malicious model that overwrites internal object properties.
Why its Dangerous
Instant Crash DoS: An attacker can set the length property to a massive number like 9 petabytes. When the system tries to load the model, it attempts to allocate all that RAM at once, causing the server to crash or freeze Out of Memory.
Access Bypass: By setting a negative offset -1, an attacker can trick the system into reading parts of a file it wasn't supposed to touch.
Object Corruption: Attackers can even inject "dunder" attributes like class to change the object's type entirely, which could lead to more complex exploits.
Fixed: https://github.com/onnx/onnx/pull/7751 object state corruption and DoS via ExternalDataInfo attribute injection
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | onnx | all versions | 1.21.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for onnx. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update onnx to 1.21.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-538c-55jv-c5g9 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-538c-55jv-c5g9 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-538c-55jv-c5g9. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-538c-55jv-c5g9 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-538c-55jv-c5g9 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.