CVE-2026-14534

Fickling check_safety() bypass via unlisted standard library modules (_posixsubprocess, site, atexit)

State
Published
Severity
8.8 High
Published
Jul 4, 2026
Updated
Jul 6, 2026
Reserved
Jul 3, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

Trail of Bits fickling versions up to and including 0.1.10 do not include the Python standard library modules _posixsubprocess, site, and atexit in the UNSAFE_IMPORTS denylist (fickle.py). Because these modules are absent from the denylist, fickling's check_safety() function returns LIKELY_SAFE with zero findings for pickle payloads that invoke dangerous functions including _posixsubprocess.fork_exec (C-level process spawner capable of executing arbitrary binaries), site.execsitecustomize (executes arbitrary site customization code), and atexit._run_exitfuncs (triggers all registered exit handler callbacks). The fickling.load() API chains check_safety() into pickle.loads() as an explicit security gate; a LIKELY_SAFE verdict causes the payload to be deserialized and executed. This shares the same root cause as CVE-2026-22607 (cProfile), CVE-2025-67748 (pty), and CVE-2025-67747 (marshal/types). OvertlyBadEvals does not flag these modules because they are standard library imports. UnsafeImports does not flag them because they are not in the denylist. The UnusedVariables heuristic is defeated by the SETITEMS opcode pattern.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.18.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HBombadilSystems

Weaknesses

  • CWE-184 Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs
  • CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Affected Products

ProductVersions
ficklingtrailofbits
  • 0.1.10 and earlierAffected
  • 0.1.11Not affected

References

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