Security vulnerabilities and automated fixes for insecure deserialization issues
11 posts found
Insecure deserialization occurs when untrusted data is used to reconstruct objects, potentially allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or trigger denial of service. Common in languages with native serialization formats like Java ObjectInputStream, Python pickle, PHP unserialize, and Ruby Marshal.
Related CWEs
Affected Languages
A critical command injection vulnerability was discovered in `contrib/Klipz.popclipext/Klipz.py`, where user-controlled clipboard content was concatenated directly into shell commands executed via `osascript`. The fix replaces unsafe string concatenation with `subprocess` and proper argument lists, and replaces the unsafe `pickle` serialization with `json` to eliminate a secondary deserialization risk. Together, these changes close two distinct attack surfaces in a single file.
A high-severity unsafe deserialization vulnerability was discovered in `web/session/session.go` where a type assertion on an `interface{}` value was performed without checking success, enabling arbitrary data structures to flow into the application. The fix adds a two-branch type assertion that returns `nil` when the cast fails, preventing unexpected types from propagating. This pattern is common in Go session management code and is easy to overlook during code review.
A high-severity deserialization vulnerability was fixed in `skills/packs/pipeline-phase-5-pretrain-code/scripts/trainer.py` where `torch.save()` was used to serialize model checkpoints. Because PyTorch's save mechanism relies on Python's `pickle` module internally, any checkpoint file loaded later could execute arbitrary code. The fix replaces `torch.save()` with `np.savez()` for model weights and a JSON file for metadata, eliminating the pickle-based serialization entirely.
A critical vulnerability in adm-zip (CVE-2026-39244) allowed attackers to craft malicious ZIP files that trigger unbounded brace expansion, causing excessive memory allocation and process crashes. The CortexKit project fixed this by upgrading adm-zip from 0.5.17 to 0.6.0, which implements bounds checking on expansion operations. This vulnerability demonstrates why dependency management and timely security updates are essential for production Node.js applications.
A high-severity arbitrary code execution vulnerability was discovered in `tools/ardy-engine/retarget.py` where `np.load()` was called with `allow_pickle=True`, enabling attackers to embed malicious pickle payloads in `.npz` files. The fix was a single-character change—switching `allow_pickle=True` to `allow_pickle=False`—that eliminates the deserialization attack vector while preserving the file's legitimate array data loading functionality.
A high-severity arbitrary code execution vulnerability was discovered in `scripts/export_joyvasa_audio.py` where `torch.load()` was called with `weights_only=False`, allowing any pickle-serialized Python object — including malicious code — to execute during checkpoint loading. The fix switches to `weights_only=True` and explicitly allowlists only the two non-standard classes the checkpoint actually requires: `argparse.Namespace` and `pathlib.PosixPath`. This closes a real code execution path tha
A critical vulnerability in the Temml math library's parser allowed unsafe token deserialization that could lead to remote code execution when processing user-supplied mathematical expressions. The fix adds strict type validation on fetched token properties before use, preventing exploitation of malformed or crafted payloads.
A high-severity untrusted deserialization vulnerability was discovered in `TransferLearningTF.ipynb`, a transfer learning tutorial notebook that loads VGG16 model weights from the internet without verifying their integrity. Because Keras relies on Python's pickle-based serialization format under the hood, a tampered or substituted weights file could execute arbitrary code with the full privileges of the notebook user. The fix adds a SHA-256 checksum verification step immediately after the weight
A high-severity vulnerability (CVE-2026-42570) was discovered in the devalue library version 5.7.1, used by the Astro-powered website. This vulnerability allowed attackers to trigger denial-of-service conditions through maliciously crafted sparse arrays during deserialization. The fix involved upgrading devalue from 5.7.1 to 5.8.1, which implements proper safeguards against sparse array exploitation.
A high-severity Denial of Service vulnerability (CVE-2026-42570) was discovered in the `devalue` library used by the Orbis AppSec blog site, where maliciously crafted sparse arrays during deserialization could exhaust server resources. The fix upgrades `devalue` from version 5.6.4 to 5.8.1 in `blog-site/package-lock.json` and adds an explicit override in `package.json` to ensure the patched version is consistently enforced across the dependency tree. Left unpatched, this vulnerability could have
A critical pre-authentication remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2025-55182) was discovered in Next.js React Server Components, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code on servers without any login or credentials required. The flaw stems from unsafe deserialization of untrusted data passed through the RSC pipeline. The vulnerability has been patched across multiple Next.js release lines, and all affected projects should upgrade immediately.