CVE-2026-9335: Improper Handling of HDF5 ExternalLinks in keras-team/keras

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.5 v3.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-02 · updated 2026-10-23
Weakness: CWE-22

Description

A vulnerability in keras-team/keras versions <= 3.14.0 allows arbitrary local HDF5 file content disclosure due to improper handling of HDF5 ExternalLinks. The `KerasFileEditor` and `keras.saving.load_weights` functions bypass the `safe_get_h5_group` and `safe_get_h5_dataset` helpers, which are designed to reject ExternalLinks and SoftLinks. This results in automatic dereferencing of links to external HDF5 files, enabling attackers to disclose sensitive data from the victim's local filesystem. Specifically, `KerasFileEditor` extracts attributes and datasets from linked files into its internal structures, while `keras.saving.load_weights` loads weights from linked files into the user's model. This issue can be exploited by providing a malicious `.h5`, `.weights.h5`, or `.keras` file containing ExternalLinks.

Affected products

keras-team/keras: before 3.12.3, 3.15.0 — fixed in 3.15.0, 3.12.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: keras-team/keras 3.15.0, 3.12.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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