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[3.10] gh-114539: Clarify implicit launching of shells by subprocess (GH-117996) #118004

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May 7, 2024
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[3.10] gh-114539: Clarify implicit launching of shells by subprocess (GH-117996) #118004

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12 changes: 10 additions & 2 deletions Doc/library/subprocess.rst
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Expand Up @@ -741,8 +741,8 @@ Exceptions defined in this module all inherit from :exc:`SubprocessError`.
Security Considerations
-----------------------

Unlike some other popen functions, this implementation will never
implicitly call a system shell. This means that all characters,
Unlike some other popen functions, this library will not
implicitly choose to call a system shell. This means that all characters,
including shell metacharacters, can safely be passed to child processes.
If the shell is invoked explicitly, via ``shell=True``, it is the application's
responsibility to ensure that all whitespace and metacharacters are
Expand All @@ -751,6 +751,14 @@ quoted appropriately to avoid
vulnerabilities. On :ref:`some platforms <shlex-quote-warning>`, it is possible
to use :func:`shlex.quote` for this escaping.

On Windows, batch files (:file:`*.bat` or :file:`*.cmd`) may be launched by the
operating system in a system shell regardless of the arguments passed to this
library. This could result in arguments being parsed according to shell rules,
but without any escaping added by Python. If you are intentionally launching a
batch file with arguments from untrusted sources, consider passing
``shell=True`` to allow Python to escape special characters. See :gh:`114539`
for additional discussion.


Popen Objects
-------------
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