Detecting Insecure Deserialization

Overview

Insecure deserialization (CWE-502, OWASP A08:2021) is the highest- severity injection class in many language stacks because it directly maps to RCE. Pickle, Java serialization, PHP unserialize, and BinaryFormatter all execute object-construction code during deserialization. If that code includes __reduce__ / readObject / __wakeup / OnDeserialization callbacks that the attacker controls, the deserialization step IS code execution.

Most legitimate use cases have safer alternatives (JSON for data, YAML with safe-load, Protocol Buffers, Avro). The remaining cases need explicit type allow-lists and HMAC-signed payloads.

When the skill produces findings

Finding	Severity	Threshold	Affected control
Python pickle.loads(...)	CRITICAL	always (untrusted input)	CWE-502
Python pickle.load(file)	CRITICAL	always	CWE-502
Python dill.loads	CRITICAL	always	CWE-502
Python yaml.load(...) without Loader=	CRITICAL	unsafe legacy default	CWE-502
Python yaml.unsafe_load(...)	CRITICAL	explicit unsafe	CWE-502
Python shelve.open(...)	HIGH	pickle-backed; user-controllable filename	CWE-502
Java ObjectInputStream.readObject()	CRITICAL	always	CWE-502
PHP unserialize($input)	CRITICAL	non-literal input	CWE-502
.NET BinaryFormatter.Deserialize(...)	CRITICAL	deprecated unsafe API	CWE-502
.NET NetDataContractSerializer	CRITICAL	also unsafe	CWE-502
.NET LosFormatter.Deserialize	CRITICAL	ViewState path	CWE-502
Ruby Marshal.load(...)	CRITICAL	non-literal	CWE-502
Ruby YAML.load(...) (pre-3.1 Psych)	CRITICAL	safe in Psych 4.0+; needs version check	CWE-502
Node.js node-serialize.unserialize	CRITICAL	known-vulnerable lib	CWE-502
Node.js serialize-javascript reviver	HIGH	if used to deserialize untrusted	CWE-502

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• Source tree on local filesystem

Instructions

Run

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/detecting-insecure-deserialization/scripts/scan_deserialization.py /path/to/repo

Options same as previous skills: --output, --format, --min-severity, --include-tests, --languages.

Interpret

CRITICAL across the board because these APIs grant RCE during deserialization if the input is attacker-controlled. The verification step is "can the input ever originate from untrusted source" — if yes, it's an immediate fix.

Remediation

The fix depends on the data shape:

• Data is structured (JSON-shaped): switch to json.loads.
• Data needs polymorphism / arbitrary types: define a strict schema (Pydantic / dataclasses / Protocol Buffers) and validate on parse.
• Data must round-trip exact Python / Java / .NET objects: use HMAC-signed serialization with an explicit type allow-list.

See references/PLAYBOOK.md for per-language migrations.

Examples

Worker-queue audit

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/detecting-insecure-deserialization/scripts/scan_deserialization.py \
    /path/to/celery-workers --min-severity high

Celery defaults to pickle in older configurations; this finds the remaining unsafe-default callers.

CI

- name: Deserialization scan
  run: |
    python3 plugins/security/penetration-tester/skills/detecting-insecure-deserialization/scripts/scan_deserialization.py \
        . --min-severity high

Output

JSON / JSONL / Markdown. Exit codes: 0 / 1 / 2.

Error Handling

Pickle / Marshal usage on a private cache file written by the same application is technically safe (the attacker can't influence the file contents). The scanner flags it as CRITICAL; verify by reading where the input file originates.

Resources

• references/THEORY.md — Why deserialization is RCE, gadget chains, HMAC-signing pattern, schema-validation alternatives
• references/PLAYBOOK.md — Per-language migrations (Python pickle → JSON / msgpack, yaml.load → yaml.safe_load, Java ObjectInputStream → JSON via Jackson with allow-list, PHP unserialize → JSON alternatives, .NET BinaryFormatter → System.Text.Json)