How severe is GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr?

No CVSS score has been assigned to GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr yet. Review the advisory details and affected package list to assess your exposure.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr?

GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr affects the following packages: picklescan (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr?

Update picklescan to 0.0.33 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr in my PyPI dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for picklescan. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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.

How does O3 Security protect against GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

When was GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr was published on December 29, 2025 and was last updated on December 29, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍 PyPI

GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr

Picklescan missing detection when calling pty.spawn

Published

Dec 29, 2025

Updated

Dec 29, 2025

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

🐍picklescan

Real-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

Using pty.spawn, which is a built-in python library function to execute arbitrary commands on the host system.

Details

The attack payload executes in the following steps: First, the attacker craft the payload by calling to pty.spawn function in the __reduce__ method. Then the victim attempts to use picklescan to scan the pickle file for issues and sees this -

----------- SCAN SUMMARY -----------
Scanned files: 1
Infected files: 0
Dangerous globals: 0

The victim proceeds to load the pickle file and execute attacker-injected arbitrary code.

PoC

class PtyExploit:
  def __reduce__(self):
    return (pty.spawn, (["/bin/sh", "-c", "id; exit"],))

Impact

Who is impacted? Any organization or individual relying on picklescan to detect malicious pickle files inside PyTorch models. What is the impact? Attackers can embed malicious code in pickle file that remains undetected but executes when the pickle file is loaded. Supply Chain Attack: Attackers can distribute infected pickle files across ML models, APIs, or saved Python objects.

Collaborators

https://github.com/ajohnston9 https://github.com/geo-lit

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`picklescan`	all versions	0.0.33

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for picklescan. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update picklescan to 0.0.33 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Summary Using pty.spawn, which is a built-in python library function to execute arbitrary commands on the host system. ### Details The attack payload executes in the following steps: First, the attacker craft the payload by calling to `pty.spawn` function in the `__reduce__` method. Then the victim attempts to use picklescan to scan the pickle file for issues and sees this - ``` ----------- SCAN SUMMARY ----------- Scanned files: 1 Infected files: 0 Dangerous globals: 0 ``` The victim proceeds to load the pickle file and execute attacker-injected arbitrary code. ### PoC ``` class PtyExpl

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-vqmv-47xg-9wpr across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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