save_global() in cPickle calls PyImport_ImportModule()
to import the module of a global that's about to be
pickled, in order to check whether the given name in
fact refers to the given object.

But when it is invoked from code living inside a
package, PyImport_ImportModule() first tries a relative
import, and if by sheer accident that relative import
succeeds, it performs the wrong test.

Example: in a package that has a submodule
"exceptions", pickling instances of built-in exceptions
will attempt to look up the exception class name in the
exceptions submodule rather than in the built-in
toplevel module by that name.

Is this still an issue?

Probably, but I guess nobody is really interested in fixing it since
it's not in 3.x.