{"id":"GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr","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","modified":"2025-12-29T15:59:48.046945Z","published":"2025-12-29T15:24:33Z","database_specific":{"cwe_ids":["CWE-502"],"severity":"HIGH","github_reviewed":true,"github_reviewed_at":"2025-12-29T15:24:33Z","nvd_published_at":null},"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"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"picklescan","ecosystem":"PyPI","purl":"pkg:pypi/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"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2025/12/GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr/GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","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"}]}