EUVD-2025-210291
GHSA-qvp4-q2p5-22gg
Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Pickle is delivered over the network (AV:N), no auth needed (PR:N), but the victim must load the file (UI:R); successful deserialization yields full code execution, so C/I/A:H.
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
picklescan before 0.0.28 fails to detect malicious pickle files that invoke torch.utils._config_module.load_config function within reduce methods. Attackers can craft pickle files embedding arbitrary code that evades detection but executes during pickle.load, enabling remote code execution in supply chain attacks.
AnalysisAI
Detection bypass in picklescan before 0.0.28 allows attackers to smuggle arbitrary code through pickle files by abusing torch.utils._config_module.load_config inside __reduce__ methods, defeating the library's malicious-pickle scanning and enabling remote code execution when the file is later loaded. Publicly available exploit code exists (GHSA-vv6j-3g6g-2pvj includes a working PoC), and the flaw is significant for any ML pipeline that trusts picklescan to vet third-party PyTorch model files. No CISA KEV listing at time of analysis, so exploitation status is limited to public POC rather than confirmed in-the-wild use.
Technical ContextAI
picklescan is a Python library that statically inspects pickle streams for dangerous opcodes and known-bad callables before pickle.load is invoked, and is widely used as a safety gate in front of PyTorch model loading. The root cause is CWE-502 (Deserialization of Untrusted Data): the scanner's allow/deny logic did not recognize torch.utils._config_module.load_config as a dangerous import, so a __reduce__ tuple that names this PyTorch internal as the callable passes scanning while still triggering arbitrary execution at deserialization time. ConfigModule.load_config internally evaluates the provided configuration payload, which an attacker uses as a secondary stage to invoke os.system or any other callable. Per the CPE cpe:2.3:a:picklescan:picklescan:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* every release up to and including 0.0.27 is affected.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: 0.0.28 - upgrade with 'pip install --upgrade picklescan>=0.0.28' as the primary fix, per GHSA-vv6j-3g6g-2pvj and the upstream PR https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/pull/47 and commit https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/commit/7f994d62084fe43f1cffdef2f9bae6923344ef53. Where immediate upgrade is not possible, add torch.utils._config_module.load_config and the broader torch.utils._config_module namespace to any local denylist used alongside picklescan, or refuse to deserialize PyTorch checkpoints that arrive as raw pickle and switch consumers to the safetensors format (trade-off: requires re-exporting models and may break code paths that rely on Python objects inside the checkpoint). As a defensive control, run pickle.load only inside a sandboxed, network-egress-restricted worker so that even a successful bypass cannot reach internal systems; this adds operational complexity but contains supply-chain payloads.
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External POC / Exploit Code
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