CVE-2025-2000 — qiskit-terra
CRITICALCVE-2025-2000 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in qiskit-terra. A fix is available for qiskit-terra — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Qiskit allows arbitrary code execution decoding QPY format versions < 13
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-2000.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
qiskit-terra🐍qiskit🐍qiskitReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
A maliciously crafted QPY file can potentially execute arbitrary-code embedded in the payload without privilege escalation when deserializing QPY formats < 13. A python process calling Qiskit's qiskit.qpy.load() function could potentially execute any arbitrary Python code embedded in the correct place in the binary file as part of a specially constructed payload.
Patches
Fixed in Qiskit 1.4.2 and in Qiskit 2.0.0rc2
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | qiskit-terra | ≥ 0.18.0 | No fix |
| 🐍PyPI | qiskit | all versions | 1.4.2pip install --upgrade 'qiskit==1.4.2' |
| 🐍PyPI | qiskit | ≥ 2.0.0rc1&&< 2.0.0rc2 | 2.0.0rc2pip install --upgrade 'qiskit==2.0.0rc2' |
Affected Products
qiskitibmDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for qiskit-terra, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
A fix is available for CVE-2025-2000; check the affected-versions list above or the advisory for the patched release of qiskit-terra, then make sure no transitive dependency still pins the vulnerable range.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-2000 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.