vLLM: Security Check Bypass via assert Statement in Activation Function Loading Allows Arbitrary Code Execution
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- Denial of service, Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 6 fixed, 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-617 and CWE-94.
Summary
vLLM is an inference and serving engine for large language models (LLMs). Prior to 0.22.0, an assert-based security check in vLLM's activation function loading allows any unauthenticated attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution on the server by publishing a malicious HuggingFace model, when vLLM runs in Python optimized mode (python -O or PYTHONOPTIMIZE=1). This vulnerability is fixed in 0.22.0.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vllm-project | vllm | before 0.22.0 | 0.22.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | vllm (PyPI) | before 0.22.0 | 0.22.0 | Patch available | GHSA-q8gq-377p-jq3r |
- vllm Vendorvllm-project Affected before 0.22.0 Fixed in 0.22.0 Patch available CNA
- vllm (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 0.22.0 Fixed in 0.22.0 Patch available GHSA-q8gq-377p-jq3r
Remediation
- Fix · CNA vllm (vllm-project) Fixed in 0.22.0
- Fix · GHSA-q8gq-377p-jq3r vllm (PyPI) Fixed in 0.22.0 Advisory →
Red Hat 23 advisories
- RHSA-2026:82061 Released 2026-10-13 · Red Hat rating CriticalRed Hat AI Inference Tech Preview 3.5.2 (Gaudi)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-gaudi-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:70995 Released 2026-09-23 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.5 (rocm)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-rocm-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:70979 Released 2026-09-23 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.5 (cuda)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-cuda-rhel9
Show 20 more Red Hat advisories
- RHSA-2026:70969 Released 2026-09-23 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.5 (spyre)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-spyre-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:70965 Released 2026-09-23 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.5 (cpu)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-cpu-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:69469 Released 2026-09-21 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.5 (rocm)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-rocm-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:69467 Released 2026-09-21 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.5 (cuda)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-cuda-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:69466 Released 2026-09-21 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.5 (cpu)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-cpu-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:69464 Released 2026-09-21 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.5 (spyre)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-spyre-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:62336 Released 2026-09-01 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.3.6 enhancement update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.3 registry.redhat.io/rhelai3/bootc-aws-cuda-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhelai3/bootc-azure-cuda-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhelai3/bootc-azure-rocm-rhel9 +3
- RHSA-2026:62335 Released 2026-09-01 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.3.6 enhancement update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.3 registry.redhat.io/rhelai3/disk-image-cuda-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:61629 Released 2026-08-31 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference Server 3.2.2 (ROCm)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.2 registry.redhat.io/rhaiis/vllm-rocm-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:61627 Released 2026-08-31 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference Server 3.2.2 (CUDA)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.2 registry.redhat.io/rhaiis/vllm-cuda-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:59151 Released 2026-08-24 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.4.4 enhancement update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhelai3/bootc-aws-cuda-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhelai3/bootc-azure-cuda-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhelai3/bootc-azure-rocm-rhel9 +3
- RHSA-2026:59144 Released 2026-08-24 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.4.4 enhancement update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhelai3/disk-image-cuda-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:59139 Released 2026-08-24 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference Server 3.3.6 (ROCm)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.3 registry.redhat.io/rhaiis/vllm-rocm-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:59138 Released 2026-08-24 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference Server 3.3.6 (CUDA)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.3 registry.redhat.io/rhaiis/vllm-cuda-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:57390 Released 2026-08-20 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.4 (rocm)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-rocm-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:57389 Released 2026-08-20 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.4 (cuda)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-cuda-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:57387 Released 2026-08-20 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.4 (spyre)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-spyre-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:57380 Released 2026-08-20 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference 3.4.4 (cpu)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-cpu-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:36006 Released 2026-07-06 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference Server 3.2.2 (ROCm)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.2 registry.redhat.io/rhaiis/vllm-rocm-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:36005 Released 2026-07-06 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat AI Inference Server 3.2.2 (CUDA)
- Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.2 registry.redhat.io/rhaiis/vllm-cuda-rhel9
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.2 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:36005, RHSA-2026:36006, RHSA-2026:61627, RHSA-2026:61629 |
| Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.3 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:59138, RHSA-2026:59139 |
| Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.4 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:57380, RHSA-2026:57387, RHSA-2026:57389, RHSA-2026:57390, RHSA-2026:69464, RHSA-2026:69466, RHSA-2026:69467, RHSA-2026:69469, RHSA-2026:70965, RHSA-2026:70969, RHSA-2026:70979, RHSA-2026:70995 |
| Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:82061 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.3 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:62335, RHSA-2026:62336 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI 3.4 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:59144, RHSA-2026:59151 |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat AI Inference Server
- Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-41523
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-q8gq-377p-jq3r
- 2026-10-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-13 Fix available: RHSA-2026:82061 · Red Hat
- 2026-10-13 Fix available: Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 · Red Hat
References
Advisory 2
Other 19
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-41523.json
- https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm
- https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/vllm/PYSEC-2026-2300.yaml
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2491582
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-41523
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:62336
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:62335
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:61629
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:61627
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:59151
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:59144
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:59139
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:59138
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:57390
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:57389
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:57387
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:57380
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:36006
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:36005
More vllm-project vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-10229 Remote Code Execution in vllm-project/vllm CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-08404 Remote Code Execution in vllm-project/vllm CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-36017 vLLM: OpenAI auth bypass CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-63056 vLLM before 0.28.0 Denial of Service via negative token ID CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-04308 Hardcoded trust_remote_code=True in vllm-project/vllm Bypasses User Security Control CVSS 3.0HIGH 8.8
- TI-2026-39137 vLLM: Remote DoS in vLLM via Invalid Recovered Token Reinjection CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-41523 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-41523 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-q8gq-377p-jq3r · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-41523 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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