What is CVE-2019-6446?

CVE-2019-6446 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Numpy, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2019-01-16.

How severe is CVE-2019-6446?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2019-6446 known to be exploited?

11 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deserialization in Numpy

CVE-2019-6446

An issue was discovered in NumPy before 1.16.3. It uses the pickle Python module unsafely, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted serialized object, as demonstrated by a numpy.load call. NOTE: third parties dispute this issue because it is a behavior that might have legitimate applications in (for example) loading serialized Python object arrays from trusted and authenticated sources.

Vulnerability class: Insecure Deserialization

Published 2019-01-16 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.175 (97.0th percentile), scored 2026-10-02.

Moderate probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — watch for active exploitation reports. 97th percentile — 97.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.175 · newest: 0.175 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Numpy
Fedoraproject Fedora — versions 30

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-502 — Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/106670 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
github.com/numpy/numpy/issues/12759 (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/… (vendor-advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00091.html (vendor-advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00092.html (vendor-advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-10/msg00015.html (vendor-advisory)
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3335 (vendor-advisory)
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3704 (vendor-advisory)
github.com/numpy/numpy/pull/13359

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-6446?: CVE-2019-6446 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Numpy, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2019-01-16.
How severe is CVE-2019-6446?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2019-6446 known to be exploited?: 11 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.