Ray 2.49.0 < 2.55.0 Remote Code Execution (CVE-2026-41486)

high Nessus Plugin ID 311475

Synopsis

A Python library installed on the remote host is affected by a remote code execution vulnerability.

Description

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.

Solution

Upgrade to Ray version 2.55.0 or later.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 311475

File Name: ray_cve-2026-41486.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Combined

Agent: windows, macosx, unix

Family: Artificial Intelligence

Published: 5/2/2026

Updated: 5/2/2026

Configuration: Enable thorough checks (optional)

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 8.4

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 10

Temporal Score: 7.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-41486

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.8

Temporal Score: 7.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:anyscale:ray

Required KB Items: installed_sw/Ray

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 4/24/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 4/24/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-41486

IAVB: 2026-B-0110

Detections

Analytics