NVFlare Dashboard pre-auth bypass allows privilege escalation and code execution
TL;DR - NVFlare Dashboard trusts a user-controlled key for authentication decisions, letting an unauthenticated attacker bypass authorisation, escalate privileges, and potentially execute code. Update to NVIDIA FLARE SDK v2.7.2 or later.
What happened
NVIDIA FLARE is a federated learning SDK. NVFlare Dashboard is the management surface that handles user accounts, organisations, and training-workflow control for FLARE deployments.
NVIDIA's April 28, 2026 security bulletin discloses CVE-2026-24178 (CVSS 9.8, Critical): the Dashboard's user management and authentication path trusts a key that is supplied by the caller. An unauthenticated attacker can supply a crafted key, bypass authorisation entirely, and reach paths that carry privilege escalation and code execution impact.
This is the shape of bug that ends badly fast. A pre-auth bypass on an admin plane, sitting next to the credentials and control paths that orchestrate training workflows. If your FLARE deployment lives in a shared lab or multi-tenant platform, the blast radius is wide.
Who is impacted
- Deployments running
NVIDIA FLARE SDKonLinuxorMacOSwith versions prior to2.7.2. - Environments where
NVFlare Dashboardis reachable from untrusted networks.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Affected component | NVFlare Dashboard user management and authentication |
| Affected versions | All versions prior to 2.7.2 |
| Fixed version | 2.7.2 |
| Severity | CVSS 3.1 9.8 (Critical) |
| CWE | CWE-639 |
What to do now
- Update now. NVIDIA's guidance is direct:
"To protect your system, clone or update this software to NVIDIA FLARE SDK v2.7.2 or later"
- Inventory every place
NVIDIA FLARE SDKis running - source checkouts, built containers, base images, CI artefacts. Confirm none are pinned to a pre-2.7.2build. - Map network exposure for every Dashboard instance:
- check ingress rules, VPN boundaries, and reverse-proxy configs to understand who can reach the Dashboard
- tighten that surface while you patch if you cannot update immediately
- Review Dashboard access logs for unexpected activity around user management endpoints - unusual access patterns before your patch date are worth investigating.
- If you suspect the environment was reached before patching, rotate credentials accessible from within the FLARE deployment.
Related
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Content is AI-assisted and reviewed by our team, but issues may be missed and best practices evolve rapidly, send corrections to [email protected]. Always consult official documentation and validate key implementation decisions before making design or security choices.