GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr: Picklescan Picklescan Missing Detection When Calling Vulnerability

HIGH
Share
CWE-502
Published
Advisory Summary

GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr is a HIGH picklescan missing detection when calling vulnerability (CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data) affecting Picklescan libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves picklescan missing detection when calling pty.spawn. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.0.33.

GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr at a Glance

CVE Identifier N/A
GHSA Identifier GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Affected Product Picklescan
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Picklescan dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

picklescan fixed: 0.0.33 
pip install picklescan>=0.0.33
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

pip show picklescan

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show picklescan

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Picklescan in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.0.33), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show picklescan command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data, where the product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid. In Picklescan, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Summary Using pty.spawn, which is a built-in python library function to execute arbitrary commands on the host system. ### Details The attack payload executes in the following steps: First, the attacker craft the payload by calling to `pty.spawn` function in the `__reduce__` method. Then the victim attempts to use picklescan to scan the pickle file for issues and sees this - ``` ----------- SCAN SUMMARY ----------- Scanned files: 1 Infected files: 0 Dangerous globals: 0 ``` The victim proceeds to load the pickle file and execute attacker-injected arbitrary code. ### PoC ``` class PtyExploit: def __reduce__(self): return (pty.spawn, (["/bin/sh", "-c", "id; exit"],)) ``` ### 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. ### Collaborators https://github.com/ajohnston9 https://github.com/geo-lit

GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr Affected Picklescan Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.0.33
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
picklescan
pypi/picklescan
PyPI
< 0.0.33
0.0.33

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/security/advisories/GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr
Picklescan Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/pull/53
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/commit/70c1c6c31beb6baaf52c8db1b6c3c0e84a6f9dab
Picklescan Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan
Picklescan Release RELEASE
https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/releases/tag/v0.0.33

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr?
GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr is a security vulnerability in Picklescan involving Picklescan missing detection when calling pty.spawn under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data.
Which Picklescan versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.0.33 across affected packages: picklescan.
What version fixes GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr?
Upgrading to 0.0.33 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is picklescan affected?
Yes, picklescan is affected in releases prior to 0.0.33. Upgrade your dependency to 0.0.33 or later.
What CWE is associated with GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr?
GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr is classified under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data (The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show picklescan'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr",
  "modified" : "2025-12-29T15:24:33Z",
  "published" : "2025-12-29T15:24:33Z",
  "aliases" : [ ],
  "summary" : "Picklescan missing detection when calling pty.spawn",
  "details" : "### Summary\nUsing pty.spawn, which is a built-in python library function to execute arbitrary commands on the host system.\n\n### Details\nThe attack payload executes in the following steps:\nFirst, the attacker craft the payload by calling to `pty.spawn` function in the `__reduce__` method. Then the victim attempts to use picklescan to scan the pickle file for issues and sees this -\n```\n----------- SCAN SUMMARY -----------\nScanned files: 1\nInfected files: 0\nDangerous globals: 0\n```\nThe victim proceeds to load the pickle file and execute attacker-injected arbitrary code.\n\n### PoC\n```\nclass PtyExploit:\n  def __reduce__(self):\n    return (pty.spawn, ([\"/bin/sh\", \"-c\", \"id; exit\"],))\n```\n\n### Impact\n**Who is impacted?** Any organization or individual relying on picklescan to detect malicious pickle files inside PyTorch models.\n**What is the impact?** Attackers can embed malicious code in pickle file that remains undetected but executes when the pickle file is loaded.\n**Supply Chain Attack**: Attackers can distribute infected pickle files across ML models, APIs, or saved Python objects.\n\n### Collaborators\nhttps://github.com/ajohnston9\nhttps://github.com/geo-lit",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "picklescan"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.0.33"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/security/advisories/GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/pull/53"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/commit/70c1c6c31beb6baaf52c8db1b6c3c0e84a6f9dab"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/releases/tag/v0.0.33"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-502" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2025-12-29T15:24:33Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}