Affected: trailofbits fickling

Fickling is a Python pickling decompiler and static analyzer. Prior to version 0.1.7, the unsafe_imports() method in Fickling's static analyzer fails to flag several high-risk Python modules that can be used for arbitrary code execution. Malicious pickles importing these modules will not be detected as unsafe, allowing attackers to bypass Fickling's primary static safety checks. This issue has been patched in version 0.1.7.

Affected: PyPI: fickling

#Fickling's assessment

`ctypes`, `importlib`, `runpy`, `code` and `multiprocessing` were added the list of unsafe imports (https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/9a2b3f89bd0598b528d62c10a64c1986fcb09f66, https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/eb299b453342f1931c787bcb3bc33f3a03a173f9, https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/29d5545e74b07766892c1f0461b801afccee4f91, https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/b793563e60a5e039c5837b09d7f4f6b92e6040d1, https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/b793563e60a5e039c5837b09d7f4f6b92e6040d1).

# Original report

## Summary

The `unsafe_imports()` method in Fickling's static analyzer fails to flag several high-risk Python modules that can be used for arbitrary code execution. Malicious pickles importing these modules will not be detected as unsafe, allowing attackers to bypass Fickling's primary static safety checks.

## Details

In `fickling/fickle.py` lines 866-884, the `unsafe_imports()` method checks imported modules against a hardcoded tuple:

```python def unsafe_imports(self) -> Iterator[ast.Import | ast.ImportFrom]: for node in self.properties.imports: if node.module in ( "__builtin__", "__builtins__", "builtins", "os", "posix", "nt", "subprocess", "sys", "builtins", "socket", "pty", "marshal", "types", ): yield node ```

This list is incomplete. The following dangerous modules are NOT detected:

- **ctypes**: Allows arbitrary memory access,…