securepickle

Why should I use securepickle instead of pickle?

As the documentation for pickle explains, pickle is insecure. If you store pickled data in a database or filesystem that could be compromised or accessed by someone with malicious intentions, you should use securepickle.

If you're not sure if you need it, it might be better to be safe than sorry.securepickle is a drop-in replacement for pickle, so you don't need to change any of your loading code.

Why should I use securepickle instead of another secure pickling solution?

securepickle has 0 dependencies. It only uses the python standard library, and supports python 2 and 3. securepickle has a documented file format and promises to be backward compatible. You will be able to unpickle your data even if the securepickle library or the used cryptographic primitives change.

How do I use it?

import securepickle as pickle
# DON'T USE THIS KEY! Make sure to generate your own key randomly
securepickle.set_key("BO4cHKNaJE0GmiShTQ8mL8oSvqBDCx2q5Xdq7iNeCaU")

...

pickle.loads(...)
pickle.load(...)
pickle.dump(...)
pickle.dumps(...)

Where should I store my key

Make sure you don't store the key in the same location of the pickled data. It's also recommended to not store the key on the source code.

What kind of attacks does securepickle prevent

securepickle prevents arbitrary code execution from attackers that can modify (or directly influence) the pickled data. This can happen, for example, if your database is compromised, or you store pickled files in a filesystem without regard to file access permissions.

securepickle does NOT prevent random people from unpickling the pickled data, even without the key. If this is a scenario you're concerned about, you should use standard database or disk encryption mechanisms.

What's the file format

securepickle|<version>|<crypto primitive>|<signature>|<pickled data> List of crypto primitive strings supported:

• HMAC(SHA512)