GHSA-63cw-57p8-fm3p — pytorch
HIGHGHSA-63cw-57p8-fm3p is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Code Injection vulnerability in pytorch. A fix is available for pytorch — see the affected versions and patch details below.
PyTorch Vulnerable to Remote Code Execution via Untrusted Checkpoint Files
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-63cw-57p8-fm3p.
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-63cw-57p8-fm3p 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
pytorchReal-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 vulnerability in PyTorch's weights_only unpickler allows an attacker to craft a malicious checkpoint file (.pth) that, when loaded with torch.load(..., weights_only=True), can corrupt memory and potentially lead to arbitrary code execution.
Vulnerability Details
The weights_only=True unpickler failed to properly validate pickle opcodes and storage metadata, allowing:
- Heap memory corruption via
SETITEM/SETITEMSopcodes applied to non-dictionary types - Storage size mismatch between declared element count and actual data in the archive
Impact
An attacker who can convince a user to load a malicious checkpoint file may achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the victim's process.
Credit
Ji'an Zhou
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | pytorch | all versions | 2.10.0pip install --upgrade 'pytorch==2.10.0' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pytorch, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update pytorch to 2.10.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-63cw-57p8-fm3p 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-63cw-57p8-fm3p can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-63cw-57p8-fm3p. 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-vllm-gaudi-rhel9:1780069069 | RHSA-2026:24977 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-63cw-57p8-fm3p in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-63cw-57p8-fm3p across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.