{"id":"GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr","aliases":[],"status":"published","title":"Picklescan missing detection when calling pty.spawn","description":"### 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":{"version":"4.0","score":8.9,"vector":"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","level":"high","from":"ghsa"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":true},"cwes":["CWE-502"],"published":"2025-12-29T15:24:33Z","modified":"2026-01-16T15:23:57Z","fixes":[{"ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"picklescan","fixed_in":["0.0.33"],"sources":["ghsa","osv"]}],"affected":[{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"picklescan","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"0.0.33"}]}]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"PyPI","package":"picklescan","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"0.0.33"}]}],"versions":["0.0.1","0.0.10","0.0.11","0.0.12","0.0.13","0.0.14","0.0.15","0.0.16","0.0.17","0.0.18","0.0.19","0.0.2","0.0.20","0.0.21","0.0.22","0.0.23","0.0.24","0.0.25","0.0.26","0.0.27","0.0.28","0.0.29","0.0.3","0.0.30","0.0.31","0.0.32","0.0.4","0.0.5","0.0.6","0.0.7","0.0.8","0.0.9"]}],"references":[{"url":"https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/security/advisories/GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/pull/53","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/commit/70c1c6c31beb6baaf52c8db1b6c3c0e84a6f9dab","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/releases/tag/v0.0.33","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr"},{"url":"https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan","tags":["package"]}],"sources":{"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr","title":"Picklescan missing detection when calling pty.spawn","description":"### 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","status":"published","published":"2025-12-29T15:24:33Z","modified":"2026-01-16T15:23:57Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":8.9,"vector":"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","level":"high"}],"cwes":["CWE-502"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:39:17.333958Z"}],"osv":[{"id":"GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr","title":"Picklescan missing detection when calling pty.spawn","description":"### 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","status":"published","published":"2025-12-29T15:24:33Z","modified":"2025-12-29T15:59:48.046945Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":8.9,"vector":"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","level":"high"}],"cwes":["CWE-502"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:46:57.694388Z"}]}}