SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2025-9905

The Keras Model.load_model method can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution, even with safe_mode=True.

HIGH 7.3EPSS 0.22%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.22%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

The Keras Model.load_model method can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution, even with safe_mode=True. One can create a specially crafted .h5/.hdf5 model archive that, when loaded via Model.load_model, will trigger arbitrary code to be executed. This is achieved by crafting a special .h5 archive file that uses the Lambda layer feature of keras which allows arbitrary Python code in the form of pickled code. The vulnerability comes from the fact that the safe_mode=True option is not honored when reading .h5 archives. Note that the .h5/.hdf5 format is a legacy format supported by Keras 3 for backwards compatibility.

CVSS 4.0
7.3 HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/M
EPSS
0.22% probability · 12th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-913
Affected
keras/keras
Source
cve-coordination@google.com

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.