An unproblematic code example

Python allows you to execute a large set of commands. This would not harm any system.

>>> from RestrictedPython import compile_restricted
>>> from RestrictedPython import safe_globals
>>>
>>> source_code = """
... def example():
...     return 'Hello World!'
... """
>>>
>>> loc = {}
>>> byte_code = compile_restricted(source_code, '<inline>', 'exec')
>>> exec(byte_code, safe_globals, loc)
>>>
>>> loc['example']()
'Hello World!'

Problematic code example

This example directly executed in Python could harm your system.

>>> from RestrictedPython import compile_restricted
>>> from RestrictedPython import safe_globals
>>>
>>> source_code = """
... import os
...
... os.listdir('/')
... """
>>> byte_code = compile_restricted(source_code, '<inline>', 'exec')
>>> exec(byte_code, safe_globals, {})
Traceback (most recent call last):
ImportError: __import__ not found

Contributing to RestrictedPython

If you want to help maintain RestrictedPython and contribute, please refer to the documentation Contributing page.

8.4 (2026-07-10)

• Add type annotations to the package code. For clarification, restricted Python code does not support type annotations.

• Allow ast.Module, ast.Expression and ast.Interactive as body in compile_restricted_function

• Disallow mode="function" in compile_restricted (it never worked).

• Prevent access to string.Formatter and its unsafe traversal methods via safer_getattr.

8.3 (2026-06-16)

• Switch to PyPI Trusted Publishing for the package release process

• Also validate positional-only argument names (parameters before /) so they cannot start with an underscore, closing a sandbox escape where a positional-only parameter could shadow an injected protected name such as _getattr_, _getitem_, _write_ or _print_.

8.3a1.dev0 (2026-05-29)

• Allow to use the package with Python 3.15 – Caution: No security audit has been done so far.

8.2 (2026-05-29)

• Remove documentation that appears to promote unsupported direct guards usage.

• Move package metadata from setup.py to pyproject.toml.

• Drop support for Python 3.9.

• Allow the ... (Ellipsis) statement.

8.1 (2025-10-19)

• Allow to use the package with Python 3.14 including t-string support.

8.0 (2025-01-23)

7.4 (2024-10-09)

• Allow to use the package with Python 3.13.

• Drop support for Python 3.7.

• Provide new function RestrictedPython.Guards.safer_getattr_raise. It is similar to safer_getattr but handles its parameter default like getattr, i.e. it raises AttributeError if the attribute lookup fails and this parameter is not provided, fixes #287.

7.3 (2024-09-30)

• Increase the safety level of safer_getattr allowing applications to use it as getattr implementation. Such use should now follow the same policy and give the same level of protection as direct attribute access in an environment based on RestrictedPython’s safe_builtints.

• Prevent information leakage via AttributeError.obj and the string module. (CVE-2024-47532)

7.2 (2024-08-02)

• Remove unneeded setuptools fossils that may cause installation problems with recent setuptools versions.

• Add support for single mode statements / execution.

• Fix a potential breakout capability in the provided safer_getattr method that is part of the safer_builtins.

7.1 (2024-03-14)

• Add support for the matmul (@) operator.

7.0 (2023-11-17)

6.0 (2022-11-03)

5.2 (2021-11-19)

• Document that __name__ is needed to define classes.

• Add support for Python 3.10. Auditing the Python 3.10 change log did not reveal any changes which require actions in RestrictedPython.

• Avoid deprecation warnings when using Python 3.8+. (#192)

5.1 (2020-10-07)

5.0 (2019-09-03)

4.0 (2019-05-10)

Changes since 3.6.0:

3.6.0 (2010-07-09)

• Add name check for names assigned during imports using the from x import y format.

• Add test for name check when assigning an alias using multiple-context with statements in Python 2.7.

• Add tests for protection of the iterators for dict and set comprehensions in Python 2.7.

3.6.0a1 (2010-06-05)

• Remove support for DocumentTemplate.sequence - this is handled in the DocumentTemplate package itself.

3.5.2 (2010-04-30)

• Remove a testing dependency on zope.testing.

3.5.1 (2009-03-17)

• Add tests for Utilities module.

• Filter DeprecationWarnings when importing Python’s sets module.

3.5.0 (2009-02-09)

• Drop legacy support for Python 2.1 / 2.2 (__future__ imports of nested_scopes / generators.).

3.4.3 (2008-10-26)

• Fix deprecation warning: with is now a reserved keyword on Python 2.6. That means RestrictedPython should run on Python 2.6 now. Thanks to Ranjith Kannikara, GSoC Student for the patch.

• Add tests for ternary if expression and for with keyword and context managers.

3.4.2 (2007-07-28)

• Changed homepage URL to the PyPI site

• Improve README.txt.

3.4.1 (2007-06-23)

• Fix http://www.zope.org/Collectors/Zope/2295: Bare conditional in a Zope 2 PythonScript followed by a comment causes SyntaxError.

3.4.0 (2007-06-04)

• RestrictedPython now has its own release cycle as a separate project.

• Synchronized with RestrictedPython from Zope 2 tree.

3.2.0 (2006-01-05)

• Corresponds to the verison of the RestrictedPython package shipped as part of the Zope 3.2.0 release.

• No changes from 3.1.0.

3.1.0 (2005-10-03)

• Corresponds to the verison of the RestrictedPython package shipped as part of the Zope 3.1.0 release.

• Remove unused fossil module, SafeMapping.

• Replaced use of deprecated whrandom module with random (aliased to whrandom for backward compatibility).

3.0.0 (2004-11-07)

• Corresponds to the verison of the RestrictedPython package shipped as part of the Zope X3.0.0 release.