Ray is an AI compute engine. From version 2.54.0 to before version 2.55.0, Ray Data registers custom Arrow extension types (ray.data.arrow_tensor, ray.data.arrow_tensor_v2, ray.data.arrow_variable_shaped_tensor) globally in PyArrow. When PyArrow reads a Parquet file containing one of these extension types, it calls __arrow_ext_deserialize__ on the field's metadata bytes. Ray's implementation passes these bytes directly to cloudpickle.loads(), achieving arbitrary code execution during schema parsing, before any row data is read. This issue has been patched in version 2.55.0.

There are packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability referenced in the following CVE:

  - Ray is an AI compute engine. From version 2.54.0 to before version 2.55.0, Ray Data registers custom Arrow
    extension types (ray.data.arrow_tensor, ray.data.arrow_tensor_v2, ray.data.arrow_variable_shaped_tensor)
    globally in PyArrow. When PyArrow reads a Parquet file containing one of these extension types, it calls
    __arrow_ext_deserialize__ on the field's metadata bytes. Ray's implementation passes these bytes directly
    to cloudpickle.loads(), achieving arbitrary code execution during schema parsing, before any row data is
    read. This issue has been patched in version 2.55.0. (CVE-2026-41486)

The version of Ray installed on the remote host is >= 2.49.0 and prior to 2.55.0. It is, therefore, affected by a remote code execution vulnerability:

  - Ray Data registers custom Arrow extension types globally in PyArrow. When PyArrow reads a Parquet file     containing one of these extension types, it calls __arrow_ext_deserialize__ on the field's metadata bytes.
    Ray's implementation passes these bytes directly to cloudpickle.loads(), achieving arbitrary code execution     during schema parsing, before any row data is read. An attacker can craft a malicious Parquet file that,     when read by any Ray Data pipeline, executes arbitrary code as the Ray worker process user.
    (CVE-2026-41486)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
462196	Echo: ray: security update to 2.52.0+echo.1	Tenable Cloud Security	Echo Local Security Checks	Local	high
462196	Echo: ray: security update to 2.52.0+echo.1	Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security	Echo Local Security Checks	Local	high
311475	Ray 2.49.0 < 2.55.0 Remote Code Execution (CVE-2026-41486)	Nessus	Artificial Intelligence	Combined	high
440810	SCA: security update for ray (GHSA-mw35-8rx3-xf9r)	Tenable Cloud Security	SCA Checks	Local	high
440810	SCA: security update for ray (GHSA-mw35-8rx3-xf9r)	Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security	SCA Checks	Local	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2026-41486

high

Tenable Plugins

high

high

high

high

high