Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessCraft pickle with trace.Trace.runctx reduce payload
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DeliveryPublish/deliver as trusted model file
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ExploitVictim scans with picklescan <0.0.29, reported clean
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ExecutionVictim calls pickle.load()
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ImpactArbitrary code executes in ML environment
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Protection mechanism completeness
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires that the victim use picklescan (any version before 0.0.29) to scan an attacker-supplied pickle/model file AND subsequently deserialize that file with pickle.load() or equivalent - the payload must be a pickle reduce method that calls the built-in Python trace.Trace.runctx, which the scanner fails to flag. The limiting factors are the victim's reliance on picklescan as a trust gate and the requirement that the malicious file actually be loaded (passive user interaction, UI:P/AT:P); no authentication is needed by the attacker (PR:N) since they only need to deliver the crafted file. If picklescan is not part of the workflow, or if files are never deserialized after scanning, the condition is not met. |
| Impact | The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N) reflects a network-delivered, unauthenticated code-execution payload that nonetheless depends on two real-world gates: a passive Attack Requirement (AT:P) and Passive user interaction (UI:P) - namely that a victim actually scans the file with picklescan and then loads it. Impact is high for confidentiality and integrity but no availability impact is claimed. There is no EPSS score, no KEV listing, and no POC referenced in the provided data, so the practical signal is 'detection-bypass weakness with high theoretical impact but no evidence of active or widespread exploitation.' The notable nuance is that this CVE is not itself a primary RCE - it is a control-evasion bug; its severity is conditional on organizations trusting picklescan as a gate in their ML supply chain. For environments that do rely on picklescan, this should be patched promptly; for those that do not use picklescan, the CVE is not applicable. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker publishes a malicious ML model to a public hub whose reduce method invokes trace.Trace.runctx; an organization's intake pipeline scans it with a pre-0.0.29 picklescan, which reports it clean, and a data scientist then loads the model with pickle.load(), executing the attacker's code in the ML environment. No public exploit is identified at time of analysis, but the technique is straightforward given the low attack complexity (AC:L) once a victim is induced to scan-then-load the file (UI:P/AT:P). |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Jun 30, 2026
Detection bypass in picklescan before 0.0.29 allows attackers to smuggle arbitrary-code payloads past the scanner by abusing Python's built-in trace.Trace.runctx in a pickle reduce method, so a malicious model/pickle file is rated safe yet executes code when later deserialized with pickle.load(). picklescan is a security scanner used to vet untrusted ML pickle files (notably in the Hugging Face ecosystem), so this failure defeats the very control teams rely on to catch malicious models. No public exploit identified at time of analysis and the issue is not in CISA KEV; reported by VulnCheck with a CVSS 4.0 base score of 7.6.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: 0.0.29 - upgrade picklescan to 0.0.29 or later (for example, pip install --upgrade 'picklescan>=0.0.29') as the primary fix, per GHSA-g344-hcph-8vgg. Until upgraded, treat picklescan results on untrusted files as unreliable: avoid calling pickle.load() on any externally sourced model/pickle and prefer safe serialization formats such as safetensors, or load models only inside a sandboxed/network-restricted environment so that a bypassed payload cannot reach sensitive data - the trade-off being added pipeline friction and conversion effort. As a compensating control, supplement picklescan with a second independent scanner or an allowlist of permitted opcodes/callables rather than relying on any single blocklist-based tool, accepting that this increases scanning time and may produce false positives. Reference the maintainer advisory (https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/security/advisories/GHSA-g344-hcph-8vgg) and VulnCheck advisory (https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/picklescan-remote-code-execution-via-undetected-trace-trace-runctx-in-pickle-files).
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in pypi
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Python's pickle format permits objects to define a __reduce__ method that returns a callable plus arguments to be invoked during deserialization, which is the long-standing mechanism behind pickle RCE. picklescan works by inspecting the opcode/import stream of a pickle and blocklisting known dangerous callables, but it maintained an incomplete inventory: it did not flag trace.Trace.runctx, a standard-library function that executes a code statement within a given global/local namespace. By routing the malicious callable through trace.Trace.runctx, an attacker satisfies the reduce contract while evading the scanner's dangerous-import checks. The root cause maps to CWE-693 (Protection Mechanism Failure) - the security control exists but can be circumvented because its detection list is not exhaustive. The single affected component is the picklescan package itself (cpe:2.3:a:picklescan:picklescan).
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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
Remote unauthenticated delivery (AV:N/PR:N), but AC:H/UI:R because success depends on the victim scanning with picklescan and then loading the file; code execution yields C:H/I:H, no availability impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
Lifecycle Timeline
1DescriptionCVE.org
picklescan before 0.0.29 fails to detect the built-in Python trace.Trace.runctx function when used in pickle file reduce methods, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code. Remote attackers can craft malicious pickle files with trace.Trace.runctx payloads that bypass picklescan detection and execute code upon pickle.load() invocation.
Articles & Coverage 1
Executive ViewAI
picklescan before version 0.0.29 contains a detection bypass vulnerability that allows malicious machine learning models to be falsely marked as safe, then execute arbitrary code when loaded. Organizations relying on picklescan to vet untrusted models from sources like Hugging Face now have a critical gap in their supply chain security controls for ML workflows.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: (1) Enforce manual code review and static analysis for all pickle files from external sources; (2) Restrict model loading to verified, internally-controlled repositories only; (3) Isolate model deserialization to sandboxed/air-gapped environments; (4) Evaluate and pilot alternative security scanners with active maintenance.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
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EUVD-2025-210387
GHSA-rf4j-9c72-qfw6
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB