Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.
trailofbits fickling — Fickling check_safety() bypass via unlisted standard library modules (_posixsubprocess, site, atexit)
AV AC PR UI S C I A CVSS EPSS %ile KEV
N L N R U H H H 8.8 .0037 29.9 —
AFFECTED
Product Versions Fixed
fickling unspecified 0.1.11
TIMELINE
Jul 3 Reserved by BombadilSystems
Jul 4 EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2026-14534 (trailofbits fickling). Public exploit reference added.
Jul 4 Published (CNA: BombadilSystems)
Description
Trail of Bits fickling versions up to and including 0.1.10 do not include the Python standard library modules _posixsubprocess, site, and atexit in the UNSAFE_IMPORTS denylist (fickle.py). Because these modules are absent from the denylist, fickling's check_safety() function returns LIKELY_SAFE with zero findings for pickle payloads that invoke dangerous functions including _posixsubprocess.fork_exec (C-level process spawner capable of executing arbitrary binaries), site.execsitecustomize (executes arbitrary site customization code), and atexit._run_exitfuncs (triggers all registered exit handler callbacks). The fickling.load() API chains check_safety() into pickle.loads() as an explicit security gate; a LIKELY_SAFE verdict causes the payload to be deserialized and executed. This shares the same root cause as CVE-2026-22607 (cProfile), CVE-2025-67748 (pty), and CVE-2025-67747 (marshal/types). OvertlyBadEvals does not flag these modules because they are standard library imports. UnsafeImports does not flag them because they are not in the denylist. The UnusedVariables heuristic is defeated by the SETITEMS opcode pattern.
Lifecycle
Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
| Date | Event | Detail |
|---|
| July 3, 2026 | Reserved | Reserved by BombadilSystems |
| July 4, 2026 | EXPLOIT PUBLISHED | EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2026-14534 (trailofbits fickling). Public exploit reference added. |
| July 4, 2026 | Published | Published (CNA: BombadilSystems) |
Affected
Affected products and packages — 1 row
| Vendor | Product / Package | Ecosystem | Version introduced | Fixed |
|---|
| trailofbits | fickling | PyPI | — | 0.1.11 |
About this page
This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2026-14534 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.