# CVE-2025-3262: Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in huggingface/transformers

> Attackers can cause denial of service in huggingface/transformers by submitting crafted inputs that trigger inefficient regex backtracking.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 7 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 7 Jul 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-489j-g2vx-39wf, PYSEC-2026-1979

## What is CVE-2025-3262?

CVE-2025-3262 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in huggingface/transformers, published on 7 Jul 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) vulnerability was discovered in the huggingface/transformers repository, specifically in version 4.49.0. The vulnerability is due to inefficient regular expression complexity in the `SETTING_RE` variable within the `transformers/commands/chat.py` file. The regex contains repetition groups and non-optimized quantifiers, leading to exponential backtracking when processing 'almost matching' payloads. This can degrade application performance and potentially result in a denial-of-service (DoS) when handling specially crafted input strings. The issue is fixed in version 4.51.0.

Weakness: CWE-1333 (Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-3262?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including transformers. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `transformers` | PyPI | From 4.49.0 | 4.51.0 |
| `transformers` | PyPI | From 4.49.0 | 4.51.0 |
| `transformers` | PyPI | From 4.49.0 | 4.51.0 |

Products: Huggingface Transformers.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-3262?

Upgrade transformers to 4.51.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2025-3262 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-3262 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in huggingface/transformers

- [CVE-2023-7018](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-7018/): Deserialization of Untrusted Data in huggingface/transformers (critical 9.6)
- [CVE-2023-6730](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-6730/): Deserialization of Untrusted Data in huggingface/transformers (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2024-11393](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-11393/): Hugging Face Transformers MaskFormer Model Deserialization of Untrusted Data Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-11394](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-11394/): Hugging Face Transformers Trax Model Deserialization of Untrusted Data Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-5241](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-5241/): Policy Bypass in LightGlue Nested Config Resolution in huggingface/transformers (high 8.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-3262 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-3262 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in huggingface/transformers, published on 7 Jul 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-3262 exists.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- transformers (PyPI): affected from 4.49.0; fixed in 4.51.0
- transformers (PyPI): affected from 4.49.0; fixed in 4.51.0
- transformers (PyPI): affected from 4.49.0; fixed in 4.51.0

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-3262/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-3262/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-3262
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-3262
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-3262

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-3262/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.