Overview
The cybersecurity community is currently addressing a severe vulnerability found in the NVIDIA NeMo library, which has the potential to impact all platforms. The library, commonly used for tasks related to machine learning and deep learning, has a flaw within its model loading component. This flaw could enable an attacker to inject code by loading .nemo files with carefully constructed malicious metadata. Given the widespread use of NVIDIA’s technology, this vulnerability carries significant potential for damage, highlighting the need for immediate attention and resolution.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-23304
Severity: High (CVSS score 7.8)
Attack Vector: .nemo file with maliciously crafted metadata
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required (User needs to load malicious .nemo file)
Impact: Remote code execution and data tampering leading to potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
NVIDIA NeMo Library | All versions
How the Exploit Works
An attacker exploits this vulnerability by creating a .nemo file with maliciously crafted metadata. When this file is loaded into the NVIDIA NeMo library’s model loading component, it triggers the vulnerability, allowing the attacker’s code to be executed. The specific nature of the metadata manipulation needed to exploit this vulnerability is not detailed in the CVE report, but it is fair to assume that it involves exploiting some form of buffer overflow or similar memory corruption error within the model loading component’s code.
Conceptual Example Code
Though the specific code to exploit this vulnerability is not provided in the CVE report, below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This pseudocode represents a .nemo file with malicious metadata.
# Pseudocode for a malicious .nemo file
malicious_metadata = {
'model_name': 'standard_model',
'model_version': '1.0',
'model_description': 'inject_code();', # Malicious code injection
}
# Create .nemo file with malicious_metadata
create_nemo_file('malicious.nemo', malicious_metadata)This pseudocode demonstrates the injection of malicious code into the model’s metadata. When this malicious .nemo file is loaded by the NVIDIA NeMo library, the code injection vulnerability would be triggered, leading to remote code execution and potentially data tampering.
Countermeasures and Mitigation
Users of the NVIDIA NeMo library should take immediate steps to mitigate the impact of this vulnerability. The primary recommended action is to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, users can employ a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability. These temporary measures can help protect systems against this high-severity threat until a permanent fix is implemented.