# PoC — code execution when loading an MLflow model with pyfunc.load_model() `mlflow.pyfunc.load_model()` on an untrusted model directory runs code straight from the model, with no pickle involved. The `MLmodel` file names a `loader_module` and a `code` directory. On load MLflow prepends the model's `code/` dir to `sys.path` and imports the named `loader_module`, so the module's top-level code runs before you ever call the model. Here `MLmodel` points `loader_module: evil_loader` at `code/evil_loader.py`, whose import runs `id` and drops `/tmp/PWNED_mlflow.txt`. ## Files - `model/MLmodel` — the model manifest (loader_module + code dir). - `model/code/evil_loader.py` — imported on load; runs `id` at import time. - `verify.py` — calls `load_model("model")` and prints the marker. ## Reproduce ``` pip install mlflow python verify.py # marker after : True # uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root) ``` Confirmed on a clean python:3.12-slim container with stock mlflow 3.14.0. ## Why it matters There is no pickle here, so a scanner that only looks for pickle opcodes (ModelScan reports this dir as clean) sees nothing, yet loading the model runs attacker code as the host process. Any pipeline that loads a user-supplied MLflow model is affected. It fires on the default `load_model` call with no flags or environment variables.