How much is set in stone?

[Andrew Dalke]

Erno Kuusela wrote:
>the fact that pickle shouldn't be fed untrusted data has been common
>knowledge in the python user and developer communities as long as i
>can remember.

I've been involved with c.l.py for 6 years.  I recall reading the
documentation that pickles don't save code objects so should be
safer than marshalls for sending data between intelligent agents.

I had always assumed it was safe.  It wasn't until this thread
came up that I knew there was a problem.  (Eg, elsewhere I posted
a pickle that could be used to remove an arbitrary file.)

So I don't think it's common enough.  Now I need to revisit how
I've done some of my quick&dirty network protocols (pickles over
an http session) as I now know it's highly insecure for both
the client and the server.

                    Andrew
                    dalke at dalkescientific.com