Hydra legacy target blacklist permits unsafe PyYAML loading
GHSA-wf6j-7hvr-gr93 · published 27 Oct 2026
How serious is it
- Severity: high, CVSS score 7.8 out of 10.
- No exploit prediction (EPSS) score yet.
- Not on the CISA list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- No public exploit in Exploit-DB.
Is your app affected by GHSA-wf6j-7hvr-gr93?
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Who is affected
hydra-core(PyPI) >= 1.3.6, < 1.3.8hydra-core(PyPI) >= 1.4.0.dev9, < 1.4.0rc3
How to check
- Run
pip show hydra-corein your project to see the installed version, including copies pulled in by other packages. - Or paste your lockfile into the checker: it lists every package with a known vulnerability, this one included.
- Or run
npx shippable-dev scan localhost:3000in your project folder. It reads your lockfile and flags this vulnerability along with every other known one.
How to fix
Copies a prompt for Claude Code, Cursor or Codex: it checks your lockfiles for this and upgrades it.
- On >= 1.3.6, < 1.3.8: Upgrade
hydra-coreto 1.3.8 or later, commit the lockfile and redeploy. - On >= 1.4.0.dev9, < 1.4.0rc3: Upgrade
hydra-coreto 1.4.0rc3 or later, commit the lockfile and redeploy. - If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.
The advisory
## Summary
Hydra's legacy target blacklist omits PyYAML's unsafe loading surfaces. If an
application passes attacker-controlled targets and arguments to instantiate(),
a target such as yaml.unsafe_load can execute Python code through a
config-controlled YAML stream containing Python object-construction tags.
## Impact and prerequisites
The attacker must control the relevant target and arguments that the application
instantiates. The configured callable executes with the application's process
privileges. This is a gap in the best-effort legacy blacklist. It is not a bypass
of Hydra 1.4's execution whitelist supplied by trusted Python code.
One realistic exposure is a model downloaded from a third-party repository,
such as Hugging Face, that bundles attacker-controlled configuration. When a
victim loads the model using application code that passes this configuration
to legacy Hydra instantiation without effective target restrictions, the
model's metadata can execute code in the victim process. This model-loading
attack pattern is documented in the original Hydra advisory
GHSA-2cp2-2r3c-7p7r and the associated Unit 42 research. It does not imply that
all Hugging Face models or currently patched downstream loaders are affected.
Hydra 1.3's blacklist is defense in depth, not a complete security boundary.
Hydra 1.4 is affected on its deprecated no-whitelist legacy path. Installed
application wrappers can perform indirect operations beyond a name-based
blacklist's coverage; this fix does not make arbitrary configuration safe.
The unsafe_load finding is directly reproduced. PyYAML 6.0.3 full_load rejects
the demonstrated python/object/apply payload, so the finding does not claim that
all PyYAML loading APIs execute that payload.
## Remediation
The fix blocks the yaml. target namespace except for the exact yaml.safe_load,
yaml.safe_load_all, yaml.safe_dump, and yaml.safe_dump_all functions. Loader
classes, constructor registration, general dump/load APIs, and other targets in
the namespace remain blocked. Existing canonical-identity checks also cover
aliases. The fix preserves Hydra 1.4's explicit unsafe opt-out for trusted use.
## Workarounds
Do not pass untrusted configuration to instantiate() or call(). For Hydra 1.4,
supply a narrow execution whitelist from trusted Python code. Do not let
untrusted configuration select its own execution policy or opt out of checks.
## Affected releases
The reported incomplete-remediation stable range is hydra-core 1.3.6 through
1.3.7. The 1.4 prerelease legacy path is also affected, including 1.4.0.dev9,
1.4.0.dev10, 1.4.0rc1, and 1.4.0rc2. The related blacklist advisory
GHSA-rqx7-p7vv-w7hr was first patched in 1.3.6 and 1.4.0.dev9; these ranges
describe the remaining omission after that remediation.
## Credit
Reported by zx (@manus-pi).
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References
- github.com/hydra-ecosystem/hydra/security/advisories/GHSA-757g-8w3h-hp29
- github.com/hydra-ecosystem/hydra/commit/9a7a9a287d565311183da3392bee4345a7fab6d7
- github.com/hydra-ecosystem/hydra/commit/de5554320c17cd2d974492c03d0b1456adb4a8ef
- github.com/hydra-ecosystem/hydra/releases/tag/v1.3.8
- github.com/hydra-ecosystem/hydra/releases/tag/v1.4.0rc3
- github.com/advisories/GHSA-wf6j-7hvr-gr93
- github.com/hydra-ecosystem/hydra
Merged from GitHub Advisory Database, OSV. Last updated 28 Oct 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON