GHSA-xrqw-3rrv-vx5w is a high-severity (CVSS 7.1) Path Traversal vulnerability in transformers. A fix is available for transformers — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Transformers save_pretrained path traversal allows arbitrary file writes through chat template names
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-xrqw-3rrv-vx5w.
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-xrqw-3rrv-vx5w 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 374,847 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
transformersReal-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
A vulnerability in huggingface/transformers versions < 5.10.0 allows an attacker to perform arbitrary file writes via path traversal. The issue resides in the save_pretrained() methods of PreTrainedTokenizerBase and ProcessorMixin, where keys from the chat_template dictionary are used directly as filenames without proper validation. An attacker can exploit this by publishing a malicious Hugging Face Hub repository with a crafted tokenizer_config.json file. When a victim downloads and saves the tokenizer or processor, the attacker-controlled keys can escape the intended save directory, enabling arbitrary file writes with attacker-controlled content. This vulnerability affects multiple processors inheriting from ProcessorMixin, including Idefics, Florence, Gemma, Phi, and Qwen-VL.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | transformers | all versions | 5.10.0pip install --upgrade 'transformers==5.10.0' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for transformers, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update transformers to 5.10.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xrqw-3rrv-vx5w 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-xrqw-3rrv-vx5w can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-xrqw-3rrv-vx5w. 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-xrqw-3rrv-vx5w in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-xrqw-3rrv-vx5w across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.