CVE-2026-24149: Code Injection in NVIDIA Megatron-LM

The impact of this vulnerability is significant. Successful exploitation allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code within the context of the Megatron-LM process. This could lead to complete system compromise, including privilege escalation to gain root access, data exfiltration of sensitive training data or model weights, and modification of the model itself. Given Megatron-LM's use in training large language models, the potential for data tampering could have far-reaching consequences, impacting the integrity and reliability of the resulting AI models. The ability to execute arbitrary code opens the door to a wide range of malicious activities, including installing backdoors, launching denial-of-service attacks, and pivoting to other systems on the network.

1. Reserved2026-01-21
2. Published2026-02-03
3. EPSS updated2026-03-23

The primary mitigation for CVE-2026-24149 is to upgrade to NVIDIA Megatron-LM version 0.14.0 or later, which contains the fix. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, consider implementing input validation and sanitization on any data processed by the vulnerable script. Specifically, carefully scrutinize all user-provided input and reject any data that appears suspicious or malformed. While not a direct fix, restricting network access to the Megatron-LM process can limit the potential impact of a successful exploit. Monitor system logs for unusual activity, particularly processes executing from unexpected locations or with elevated privileges.