Vulnerability in safety (CVE-2020-5252)
Summary
Vulnerability in safety (CVE-2020-5252). Data can be tampered with by attackers. Exploitable via safety. Mitigation: upgrade to 1.9.0 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
Python Auditing Vulnerability
Demonstrates how a malicious package can insert a load-time poison pill to avoid detection by tools like Safety.
Tools that are designed to find vulnerable packages can not ever run in the same python environment that they are trying to protect.
Usage
Install safety, insecure-package, and this package with pip in the same python environment. Order doesn't matter.
- pip install safety
- pip install insecure-package
- pip install dist/malicious-0.1-py3-none-any.whl
Run the check
safety check
You should see both Running my modified safety.check and that insecure-package is not listed in the results!
How it Works
Everything in Python is mutable. The trick is getting some code to run at interpreter load time in order to do some patching.
- When you install this package, the
setup.pysettings installs amalicious.pthfile to yoursite-packagesdirectory. - The
malicious.pthfile gets loaded anytime Python starts, which in turn imports ourmaliciouspackage. - The
malicious/__init__.pypatches the safety library with a custom function to avoid detection.
Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2020-5252 has been found in safety.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like safety over the network to misuse the product.
Data can be tampered with by attackers.
What to do: upgrade safety to 1.9.0 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "safety CVE-2020-5252" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2020-5252 (safety) — CWE-807
Attack vector: local
Attack surface: safety / setup.py / malicious.pth / malicious
Patched: 1.9.0 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-807) exists in safety. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via safety.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of safety. Attack surface: safety / setup.py / malicious.pth / malicious.
Severity: ?. Data can be tampered with by attackers.
Update to 1.9.0.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'safety' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'safety' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
safetyを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade safety to 1.9.0ステージング環境で 1.9.0 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- package github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com
- web mulch.dev
- web pyup.io