---
title: "CVE-2026-118938: Trail of Bits fickling - Remote Code Execution"
description: "Trail of Bits fickling 0.1.12 contains a remote code execution vulnerability caused by unsafe resolution of dotted __qualname__ in pickle STACK_GLOBAL operand, letting attackers execute arbitrary code via crafted pickle loading, exploit requires loading malicious pickle with fickling.load()."
url: https://panop.io/threat-heartbeat/CVE-2026-118938/
---

# CVE-2026-118938 Trail of Bits fickling - Remote Code Execution

Trail of Bits fickling 0.1.12 contains a remote code execution vulnerability caused by unsafe resolution of dotted \_\_qualname\_\_ in pickle STACK\_GLOBAL operand, letting attackers execute arbitrary code via crafted pickle loading, exploit requires loading malicious pickle with fickling.load().

CVSS base score 8.8 /10

High

CISA KEV

Not listed

Public exploit

None known

Authentication

Not required

EPSS

0.48% chance of exploitation in 30 days

[View the NVD record ↗](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-118938)

## Details

Type

Remote Code Execution

Impact

Remote Code Execution

CVSS vector

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

Published

30 October 2026

Updated

1 November 2026

Weakness

[CWE-502](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/502.html)

## Vendor fix

Update to a version that properly resolves or flags dotted attribute-path imports or apply vendor patches addressing this issue.

Patching closes this CVE. It does not tell you which of your systems run the affected version, or what else is exposed alongside them.

## References

- [https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-118938](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-118938)
- [https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling](https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling)
- [https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/d011709](https://github.com/trailofbits/fickling/commit/d011709)
- [https://pypi.org/project/fickling/0.1.12/](https://pypi.org/project/fickling/0.1.12/)
- [https://bombadil.systems/advisories.html](https://bombadil.systems/advisories.html)

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## What this record can't tell you

- Whether you run the affected software, and where
- Whether an attacker can actually reach and exploit it
- The misconfigurations that never get a CVE number
- What it would cost the business, ranked into what to fix first

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