CVE-2026-14535
Description
In Trail of Bits fickling versions up to and including 0.1.11, the UnsafeImportsML analysis pass unconditionally calls AnalysisContext.shorten_code(node) on every import node it inspects, regardless of whether the import is flagged as unsafe. This call registers the shortened code representation in the shared AnalysisContext.reported_shortened_code set. When the MLAllowlist analysis pass subsequently runs, it calls the same shorten_code() method, receives already_reported=True for every import, and executes a continue statement that skips its allowlist check entirely. This renders MLAllowlist dead code for all imports — it never evaluates whether an import is in the ML allowlist or not. The MLAllowlist pass was designed to catch imports of modules outside the known-safe ML ecosystem (torch, numpy, transformers, etc.) that slip past the UnsafeImports denylist. With MLAllowlist inoperative, any standard library module not in the UNSAFE_IMPORTS denylist can be invoked via pickle deserialization while fickling's check_safety() returns LIKELY_SAFE. The fickling.load() API chains check_safety() into pickle.loads() as an explicit security gate, meaning a LIKELY_SAFE verdict causes the payload to be deserialized and executed. The root cause is shared mutable state between independently-correct analysis passes — UnsafeImportsML works as designed in isolation, MLAllowlist works as designed in isolation, but the shared reported_shortened_code set causes UnsafeImportsML to poison MLAllowlist's deduplication logic.
Affected products
3- Package: https://pypi.org/project/fickling
<=0.1.11+ 1 more
- (no CPE)range: <=0.1.11
- cpe:2.3:a:trailofbits:fickling:*:*:*:*:*:python:*:*range: <=0.1.11
Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
References
4- github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/41ce7cb01edd97072994039574a2301ebb3f463dnvdPatch
- github.com/trailofbits/fickling/pull/278nvdIssue TrackingPatch
- github.com/trailofbits/fickling/security/advisories/GHSA-cffv-grgg-g429nvdExploitThird Party Advisory
- github.com/trailofbits/fickling/releases/tag/v0.1.12nvdRelease Notes
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