Assessment

The missing pickle entrypoints pickle.loads, _pickle.loads, and _pickle.load were added to the hook https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/8c24c6edabceab156cfd41f4d70b650e1cdad1f7.

Original report

Summary

fickling.always_check_safety() does not hook all pickle entry points. pickle.loads, _pickle.loads, and _pickle.load remain unprotected, enabling malicious payload execution despite global safety mode being enabled.

Affected versions

<= 0.1.8 (verified on current upstream HEAD as of 2026-03-03)

Non-duplication check against published Fickling GHSAs

No published advisory covers hook-coverage bypass in run_hook(). Existing advisories are blocklist/detection bypasses (runpy, pty, cProfile, marshal/types, builtins, network constructors, OBJ visibility, etc.), not runtime hook coverage parity.

Root cause

run_hook() patches only:

• pickle.load
• pickle.Unpickler
• _pickle.Unpickler It does not patch:
• pickle.loads
• _pickle.load
• _pickle.loads

Reproduction (clean upstream)

import io, pickle, _pickle
from unittest.mock import patch
import fickling
from fickling.exception import UnsafeFileError
class Payload:
    def __reduce__(self):
        import subprocess
        return (subprocess.Popen, (['echo','BYPASS'],))
data = pickle.dumps(Payload())
fickling.always_check_safety()

# Bypass path
with patch('subprocess.Popen') as popen_mock:
    pickle.loads(data)
    print('bypass sink called?', popen_mock.called)  # True

# Control path is blocked
with patch('subprocess.Popen') as popen_mock:
    try:
        pickle.load(io.BytesIO(data))
    except UnsafeFileError:
        pass
    print('blocked sink called?', popen_mock.called)  # False

Observed on vulnerable code:

• pickle.loads executes payload
• pickle.load is blocked

Minimal patch diff

--- a/fickling/hook.py
+++ b/fickling/hook.py
@@
 def run_hook():
-    pickle.load = loader.load
+    pickle.load = loader.load
+    _pickle.load = loader.load
+    pickle.loads = loader.loads
+    _pickle.loads = loader.loads

Validation after patch

• pickle.loads, _pickle.loads, and _pickle.load all raise UnsafeFileError
• sink not called in any path Regression tests added locally:
• test_run_hook_blocks_pickle_loads
• test_run_hook_blocks__pickle_load_and_loads in test/test_security_regressions_20260303.py

Impact

High-confidence runtime protection bypass for applications that trust always_check_safety() as global guard.