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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-16760: trailofbits fickling · Protection Mechanism Failure

Affects trailofbits ficklingSource CVE Database V5

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Mentioned vulnerabilities

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.8 High.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 21:36 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
8.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none
CVSS scores by source
CNA (BombadilSystems)CVSS 3.18.8
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 30 Oct 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
trailofbitsficklingAffected
  • <=0.1.12
Fixed in–
PyPIficklingpkg:pypi/ficklingOther threatsAffected
  • <=0.1.12
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

As of 2026-10-30, the vendor has added the demonstrated unsafe modules to the UNSAFE_IMPORTS denylist on the master branch pending release. No official patched release is available yet; therefore, users should avoid using fickling versions up to 0.1.12 in security-sensitive contexts. Monitor the vendor's repository for an official release containing these fixes. There are no vendor advisories indicating that no action is required or that the issue is mitigated otherwise.

Description

Trail of Bits fickling versions up to 0.1.12 contain a protection mechanism failure where the _process_import() method trusts imported callables from standard library modules without verifying their behavior. This leads to unsafe calls being marked as likely safe, allowing malicious pickle payloads to execute arbitrary code or write files. The issue affects Python 3.7 through 3.12 and involves modules such as dataclasses, mailcap, and readline. The vendor has added the demonstrated unsafe modules to a denylist on the master branch but no official release patch is available yet.

References

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