Is there a public exploit for CVE-2026-118938?

No public exploit for CVE-2026-118938 was found in Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei templates or public proof-of-concept repositories. That is an absence of evidence rather than proof that none exists.

How severe is CVE-2026-118938?

CVE-2026-118938 scores CVSS 8.8 (v3.1), rated high.

8.8 High

In Trail of Bits fickling through 0.1.12, a pickle STACKGLOBAL operand carrying a dotted qualname (for example "Values.readfile") is…

CVE-2026-118938

In Trail of Bits fickling through 0.1.12, a pickle STACKGLOBAL operand carrying a dotted qualname (for example "Values.readfile") is resolved by pickle's findclass through getattribute to an arbitrary attribute path rather than to a module-level function. Fickling records only the leading component of the name in its import tracking and renders the operation as a plain import (for instance, 'python -m fickling' displays it as 'from optparse import Values.readfile'), so the trailing attribute reference is never analyzed as a call. The OvertlyBadEvals analysis pass does not flag it, and checksafety() returns LIKELYSAFE with zero findings. This allows an attacker to reach a class method that performs code execution: optparse.Values.readfile executes exec(open(filename).read(), vars), achieving arbitrary code execution when the crafted pickle is loaded through fickling.load(), which chains checksafety() into pickle.loads() as an explicit security gate. optparse is present in all current CPython 3.x releases (deprecated as of Python 3.13, not removed). This weakness is in the resolution and analysis of dotted attribute-path names, and is distinct from and independently fixable from the…

Assessment

CVSS: 8.8 (v3.1)
Severity: High
Known exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Exploit availability: Nothing found in Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or public PoC repositories
Published: 30 October 2026
Last updated: 6 November 2026
Weakness: CWE-502, CWE-706
Assigner: aa17e1a1-c329-4d6e-a1ed-8d0188aea082

CVSS vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

At the source

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