In Python 3 a metclass can create a class __dict__ that is not a true dictionary. This can trigger code execution when accessing __dict__ members. getattr_static should not access them directly but do so using dict methods directly for dict subclasses and skipping classes that have non-dicts for __dict__.

The documentation should mention explicitly that the "no code execution" feature of this function is *not* a security feature and should not be relied on for security purposes.

Can you perhaps elaborate on the first part? I really can't see right now how a class __dict__ can be something different from a dictionary. It's true that the class dict can be any mapping while the class is being created, but that's uninteresting for getattr_static as there is no class object yet that one can pass to getattr_static.

Andreas:  metaclass.__prepare__ can return any mapping object.  See http://docs.python.org/dev/reference/datamodel#customizing-class-creation

I shot too fast, you were right.  The mapping returned by __prepare__ is used during class creation, but __dict__ on the instance is a basic dict afterwards (not sure the doc is clear, I tested it in a shell).