Executive brief
IBM Langflow Desktop, a tool used for building AI and machine learning workflows, contains a security flaw in its data processing component. An authorized user could exploit this flaw to run unauthorized commands on the underlying system by uploading a malicious file. This could lead to a full system takeover, data theft, or disruption of AI operations.
Technical details
A deserialization vulnerability (CWE-502) exists in IBM Langflow Desktop versions 1.6.0 through 1.8.2. The flaw is located in the FAISS Vector Store component, which is used for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows. The component is configured by default to permit the unsafe deserialization of Python Pickle files. An authenticated attacker can exploit this by uploading a specially crafted Pickle file and configuring the FAISS component to load it. Successful exploitation allows for arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the backend service. The issue is resolved in version 1.8.3.
Affected products
- IBM Langflow Desktop 1.6.0 - 1.8.2
Timeline
- 2026-04-02: advisory: Initial publication by IBM
- 2026-04-08: disclosed: NVD publication date
- 2026-04-08: patched: Version 1.8.3 released to address the vulnerability