CVE-2026-6357

pip prior to version 26.1 would run self-update check functionality after installing wheel files which required importing well-known Python modules names. These module imports were intentionally deferred to increase startup time of the pip CLI. The patch changes self-update functionality to run before wheels are installed to prevent newly-installed modules from being imported shortly after the installation of a wheel package. Users should still review package contents prior to installation.

Credits

Damian Shaw
Damian Shaw
Richard Si
Seth Larson

References