Some SWE-rebench-V2 images keep newer releases of the project under test, and in some of them most of the reference patch's added code is readable

#7
by rrrfffffeeee - opened

Hi, and thanks for releasing SWE-rebench-V2. We plan to train a coding agent with reinforcement learning on its tasks, and before training we checked whether an agent can find the reference fix inside the task images. Below is a leakage path we found, and the tasks where we confirmed that at least half of the lines added by the reference patch can be read from it.

Leakage path

Some images contain another release of the project under test, and some of those releases already include the reference fix. They sit in two places:

  • pip cache: the images for Python tasks set PIP_CACHE_DIR=/workspace/.cache/pip, and every package pip downloaded during the build stays there, sometimes including a newer release of the project under test itself.
    • The images we checked run as root by default, and the directory is mode 0755, so an agent can read it.
    • Cache entries are .body files named by hash. Their names do not show the package name or version; you only see those by opening the file as a zip or tar (for example <project>-<version>.dist-info). So searching for .whl files by name finds nothing.
  • Another installation of the project: some images have a different version of the project under test installed elsewhere, either in an extra conda environment (such as swebench_matterhorn) or in the site-packages of the image's /usr/local Python. When the project under test is conda or setuptools, the one that ships with the image (in the conda base environment or the /usr/local Python) also falls into this category.

How we decide the fix is "readable": three filters

  1. The pip cache or another installation contains a release of the project under test.
  2. That release's git tag history contains the merge commit of the task's fix PR (checked with GitHub compare; the result is ahead or identical). Version numbers alone can mislead.
  3. Of the lines the reference patch adds to non-test .py files (at least 20 characters, not comments, absent from base), at least half appear, ignoring whitespace, in the file at the same path in that release tag's source. A file that was later moved or renamed counts as not readable.

Tasks that pass only the second filter had their code rewritten after the fix was merged, or the file was moved; we do not count them as readable.

Results

The results below refer to the image digests listed in the appendices (checked on 2026-11-03).

  • Reference patch code readable from the pip cache: 6 tasks: keras-20609, keras-19924, keras-19863, quacc-1689, more-itertools-892, celery-8984.
  • Reference patch code readable from another installation of the project: 7 tasks: rich-2031, attrs-1321, kedro-kubeflow-202, conda-8015, pyflakes-745, setuptools-1100, setuptools-1389.
    • Also setuptools-4911: its other installation (setuptools 72.1.0 in the conda base environment) predates the fix, but the fix happens to restore code that was removed later, so that installation already contains the code.

Except for keras-19863, which comes from the random sample below, we found these tasks while checking a subset of SWE-rebench-V2, so the list does not cover the full table. Separately, we randomly sampled 200 of the 32,079 rows and pulled 199 images (one image no longer exists on Docker Hub). Of those 199, 50 are Python images, and all 50 carry the pip cache (none of the non-Python images do). Only 2 of those 50 have a release of the project under test in the cache, and 1 has readable reference patch code (keras-19863).

Per-task versions, line counts and image digests are in Appendices A and B.

We have not observed a model exploiting this path; this is only a report of a possible leakage path.

Suggestions

  1. Could the last build step simply delete /workspace/.cache/pip, or could the build set PIP_NO_CACHE_DIR=1 so that no cache is kept in the first place? If uv is used, also run uv cache clean.
  2. Could unneeded installations of the project (Appendix B) be removed, for example those in the swebench_matterhorn environment? When the project under test is a tool that ships with the image, such as conda or setuptools, that installation may not be removable; those tasks might need to be flagged instead.
Appendix A: pip cache (14 tasks: 12 from the subset we checked, 2 from the random sample)

"fix lines readable" = lines the reference patch adds to non-test .py files (at least 20 characters, not comments, absent from base) that appear in the file at the same path in the release tag's source tree, ignoring whitespace; a file that was later moved or renamed counts as not readable. Counts use the release tag's source on GitHub, not the files inside the image. "compare" is GitHub compare from the fix PR's merge commit to the release tag.

task found in cached release installed at base fix PR release tag compare (merge…tag) fix lines readable verdict image checked 2026-11-03
quantum-accelerators__quacc-1689 subset 0.6.6 0.6.6 (version string already set at base) Quantum-Accelerators/quacc#1689 v0.6.6 identical 20/20 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/quantum-accelerators-quacc:1689-e7c3d4f@sha256:c6a8114c3dbbd686bd27fd0e98518b7bab31bbd37919a3d2cd2f39d6dfef6447
keras-team__keras-20609 subset 3.12.1 3.7.0 keras-team/keras#20609 v3.12.1 ahead 20/29 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/keras-team-keras:20609-1597013@sha256:966e9dada6508a1aa977fbdcb78ab1ec5336330bdd26e674bbf763c54b43212c
more-itertools__more-itertools-892 subset 10.8.0 10.3.0 more-itertools/more-itertools#892 v10.8.0 ahead 3/3 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/more-itertools-more-itertools:892-1ae91eb@sha256:d1a197b9e55dea1950d65138ea2fc863b25d13200606271b2974b3f406fad6d5
keras-team__keras-19924 subset 3.12.1 3.4.0 keras-team/keras#19924 v3.12.1 ahead 3/4 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/keras-team-keras:19924-a2e9a52@sha256:850885108cda5ab59d5ee89be48b77b3f1b82846d703f90ec44c66d5f25b6ff6
celery__celery-8984 subset 5.6.2 5.4.0 celery/celery#8984 v5.6.2 ahead 2/2 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/celery-celery:8984-04af085@sha256:1633c8cdef1743a8166159623c6fd810404df64ba22967a475d2a2b0679880cb
takluyver__flit-168 subset 3.9.0 3.9.0 (separate install; work tree is 0.13) pypa/flit#168 3.9.0 ahead 0/6 fix in release history, files later moved; not readable at the same path docker.io/swerebenchv2/takluyver-flit:168-29dbe93@sha256:5a0627f930157956a2a45fdbc85eceee39f53fb3d80ae84a65496c6b95388fd9
keras-team__keras-20296 subset 3.12.1 3.6.0 keras-team/keras#20296 v3.12.1 ahead 0/11 fix in release history, code later rewritten; not readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/keras-team-keras:20296-ef407db@sha256:fac1385ee442bbd4e272e69af3d517c30eb09ab2d0d17c763869137224893469
keras-team__keras-20550 subset 3.12.1 3.7.0 keras-team/keras#20550 v3.12.1 ahead 0/2 fix in release history, code later rewritten; not readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/keras-team-keras:20550-553521e@sha256:d1330b3908105dede90016e62f4b9347d03988199688b25fddad067d8715e3b7
celery__celery-8383 subset 5.6.2 5.3.1 celery/celery#8383 v5.6.2 ahead 0/2 fix in release history, code later rewritten; not readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/celery-celery:8383-78ab64e@sha256:f6e6ca1c1cc83dcdd87708bb12e205cd77dc81b8b3f21933501a987fd9d32981
celery__celery-9331 subset 5.6.2 5.5.0rc1 celery/celery#9331 v5.6.2 ahead 0/1 fix in release history, code later rewritten; not readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/celery-celery:9331-b3cd498@sha256:62ec98313efa0a04b84fa31ff4567e969cb0115aee37c1ed3fd58244de40af28
kennethreitz__pipenv-976 subset 2023.10.3 8.2.7 pypa/pipenv#976 v2023.10.3 ahead 0/5 fix in release history, code later rewritten; not readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/kennethreitz-pipenv:976-b1be8f7@sha256:138d1110c321ee973e0c4574a81410cc65867d258eb3310693e6cda18a16db64
sdispater__tomlkit-71 subset 0.14.0 not installed python-poetry/tomlkit#71 0.14.0 ahead 0/1 fix in release history, code later rewritten; not readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/sdispater-tomlkit:71-f90b668@sha256:b69090a1deb8960bac2f55290502e105bdc1482596697c1fb4fc4007ff0e297d
keras-team__keras-19863 random sample 3.12.1 3.3.3 keras-team/keras#19863 v3.12.1 ahead 6/6 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/keras-team-keras:19863-f6cf6a0@sha256:b84cfd7a39278bba9a3b455d96babc8c172bf6d09884955079bcb050f1fee13d
pytest-dev__pluggy-314 random sample 1.6.0 1.0.0.dev60+g4c5d666e1 pytest-dev/pluggy#314 1.6.0 ahead 1/7 partly readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/pytest-dev-pluggy:314-4c5d666@sha256:dcfb5d71d97225e9574b8e9e5e6e2ba50264cafcaa0c1c9c669255afba9ba3b9
Appendix B: another installation of the project (13 tasks; images checked 2026-11-03)

Columns as in Appendix A, with the installation's version and location instead of the cache. pypa__packaging-29: the release history diverged from the fix, so it is not a leak. pypa__setuptools-1389: the image also has setuptools 72.1.0 in the conda base environment (and under /opt/conda/pkgs) and 75.1.0 in swebench_matterhorn; we counted only the Python 3.7 installation (68.0.0).

task installed version location fix PR release tag compare (merge…tag) fix lines readable verdict image checked 2026-11-03
getindata__kedro-kubeflow-202 0.9.0 /usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/kedro_kubeflow getindata/kedro-kubeflow#202 0.9.0 ahead 13/13 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/getindata-kedro-kubeflow:202-4cb366c@sha256:774acfc074719d306e568ff30749d026a65a53c7fa9cea6bcbbae55e649ea42a
pycqa__pyflakes-745 3.1.0 /usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pyflakes PyCQA/pyflakes#745 3.1.0 ahead 3/3 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/pycqa-pyflakes:745-2c64ae4@sha256:d6b6f3a7f74262a7c2d80552b947e705572500d2ce210035887ffd27e0eb7c94
pypa__setuptools-1100 68.0.0 /usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/setuptools pypa/setuptools#1100 v68.0.0 ahead 3/3 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/pypa-setuptools:1100-f26bf18@sha256:0fa1978460ca1b2417755d65f1fa56049c205ba31b8354f8f59cf59dc5735868
pypa__setuptools-1389 68.0.0 /usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/setuptools pypa/setuptools#1389 v68.0.0 ahead 2/2 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/pypa-setuptools:1389-85593de@sha256:4b7c4f36d2c8ddb7211399f8f9b83d44f39d195c88806868085e46a9e57b1e22
python-attrs__attrs-1321 24.2.0 /opt/conda/envs/swebench_matterhorn/lib/python3.12/site-packages/attr python-attrs/attrs#1321 24.2.0 ahead 16/16 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/python-attrs-attrs:1321-fd7538f@sha256:3e949c5dd2557c542d20524c697f7e6ffd86cbf22356bef7cc9e59fd05bd6af6
textualize__rich-2031 13.8.1 /opt/conda/envs/swebench_matterhorn/lib/python3.12/site-packages/rich Textualize/rich#2031 v13.8.1 ahead 29/30 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/textualize-rich:2031-8e649fe@sha256:0fe162eeb316c3d5060eadb2ab08f4e4edf5f206c8ab9437375598fe42682f83
qiskit__qiskit-terra-6658 2.3.0 /usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/qiskit Qiskit/qiskit#6658 2.3.0 ahead 2/8 partly readable (one of two files later moved) docker.io/swerebenchv2/qiskit-qiskit-terra:6658-21b875d@sha256:0c7d77c10cac39934d9c306371dfd55811340e12faeb6983c4b54f99f0f68423
conda__conda-8015 24.7.1 /opt/conda/lib/python3.12/site-packages/conda
/opt/conda/pkgs/conda-24.7.1-py312h06a4308_0/lib/python3.12/site-packages/conda
conda/conda#8015 24.7.1 ahead 44/68 fix code readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/conda-conda:8015-b3d8da6@sha256:765cbd0785375e081c60fa999b36b018c2817af971997dffab67cbc4acf4eee1
gitpython-developers__gitpython-1264 3.1.43 /opt/conda/envs/swebench_matterhorn/lib/python3.12/site-packages/git gitpython-developers/GitPython#1264 3.1.43 ahead 4/9 partly readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/gitpython-developers-gitpython:1264-bb02e12@sha256:7db2d5aee77a84b66e2f6f792064f4c4dd128581fdd2198c9c2c2ae428815e86
conda__conda-7162 24.7.1 /opt/conda/lib/python3.12/site-packages/conda
/opt/conda/pkgs/conda-24.7.1-py312h06a4308_0/lib/python3.12/site-packages/conda
conda/conda#7162 24.7.1 ahead 1/4 partly readable docker.io/swerebenchv2/conda-conda:7162-660f35a@sha256:537a0506a0adf518b56610c1b6aaf94f5021011d5d0492e94ff28dafe8b31db0
pypa__setuptools-1365 68.0.0 /usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/setuptools pypa/setuptools#1365 v68.0.0 ahead 0/16 not readable at the same path (file later moved) docker.io/swerebenchv2/pypa-setuptools:1365-5dddf7f@sha256:8ec09d576ce1fbf4082621c1a684bc2b2f82f4a59012e7c87f053ab206e26c0e
pypa__packaging-29 24.1 /opt/conda/envs/swebench_matterhorn/lib/python3.12/site-packages/packaging
/opt/conda/lib/python3.12/site-packages/packaging
/opt/conda/pkgs/packaging-24.1-py312h06a4308_0/lib/python3.12/site-packages/packaging
pypa/packaging#29 24.1 diverged 0/2 not a leak: release history diverged from the fix docker.io/swerebenchv2/pypa-packaging:29-02b5d22@sha256:bc8842066f6bc927b30c5f0cac3bbcebe5f521874a10a883239ddf56ba05041d
pypa__setuptools-4911 72.1.0 /opt/conda/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools pypa/setuptools#4911 v72.1.0 behind 10/16 special: this installation predates the fix; the fix restores code removed later, so the installation already has that code docker.io/swerebenchv2/pypa-setuptools:4911-5450f57@sha256:d1b59042beefec6a44cc3d8c1abd985c2c2552f12a9be289ff736d031dfe556c
Appendix C: read-only reproduction

Every docker run uses the upstream image by digest, offline (--network none) and with --rm, and prints only paths, versions, commit hashes and counts. Platform: linux/amd64. Work dir: /<repo name>.

1. Find the project's release in pip's HTTP cache. Save this script as scan_pip_http_cache.py:

# scan_pip_http_cache.py — run inside the container: python3 - <project-name> < scan_pip_http_cache.py
import os, re, sys, tarfile, zipfile
try:
    import importlib.metadata as md
except ImportError:
    md = None
want = re.sub(r"[-_.]+", "-", sys.argv[1].lower())
DIST = re.compile(r"(?:[^/]+/)?([A-Za-z0-9_.-]+?)-([0-9][^/]*?)\.(?:dist-info|egg-info)(?:/|$)")
SDIST = re.compile(r"([A-Za-z0-9_.-]+)-([0-9][^/]*)/(?:setup\.py|pyproject\.toml)$")
roots = []
for dp, dn, _ in os.walk("/"):
    if dp.startswith(("/proc", "/sys", "/dev")) or dp.count("/") > 6:
        dn[:] = []; continue
    for d in list(dn):
        p = os.path.join(dp, d)
        if p.endswith(("/.cache/pip", "/.cache/uv")) or d == "pip-cache":
            roots.append(p); dn.remove(d)
print("cache dirs:", roots)
for root in roots:
    for dp, _, fn in os.walk(root):
        for f in fn:
            p = os.path.join(dp, f)
            try:
                head = open(p, "rb").read(2)
                names = (zipfile.ZipFile(p).namelist() if head == b"PK"
                         else tarfile.open(p).getnames() if head == b"\x1f\x8b" else [])
            except Exception:
                continue
            for nm in names:
                m = DIST.match(nm) or SDIST.match(nm)
                if m and re.sub(r"[-_.]+", "-", m.group(1).lower()) == want:
                    print("cached:", m.group(1), m.group(2), "<-", p); break
try:
    print("installed:", md.version(want) if md else "unknown")
except Exception as e:
    print("installed: none (%s)" % type(e).__name__)
# keras-team__keras-20609: expected "cached: keras 3.12.1" and "installed: 3.7.0"
docker run --rm -i --network none --user root --entrypoint python3 \
  docker.io/swerebenchv2/keras-team-keras@sha256:966e9dada6508a1aa977fbdcb78ab1ec5336330bdd26e674bbf763c54b43212c \
  - keras < scan_pip_http_cache.py

2. Check that the release contains the fix PR's merge commit (no Docker needed):

SHA=$(gh api repos/keras-team/keras/pulls/20609 --jq .merge_commit_sha)
gh api repos/keras-team/keras/compare/$SHA...v3.12.1 --jq .status   # "ahead" or "identical"

3. Count the fix lines that are readable at the same path. Save the row's patch field as fix.patch, check out the project at the row's base_commit as base/, and check out the release tag as rel/ (for example git clone --depth 1 --branch v3.12.1 https://github.com/keras-team/keras rel). Use the tag's source tree rather than an unpacked wheel: a wheel drops the src/ prefix of src-layout projects, so the same-path lookup would miss. Then run:

# count_fix_lines.py: usage: python3 count_fix_lines.py fix.patch BASE_DIR RELEASE_DIR
#   fix.patch   : the row's `patch` field saved to a file
#   BASE_DIR    : the project's source tree at the row's base_commit
#   RELEASE_DIR : the project's source tree at the release tag
# Counts the lines the patch adds to non-test .py files (>= 20 characters, not comments,
# absent from the base version of that file) and how many of them appear in the file at
# the same path in the release, ignoring whitespace. A file that was later moved or renamed
# counts as not readable. Prints counts only.
import os, re, sys

patch, base, rel = sys.argv[1:4]
norm = lambda s: re.sub(r"\s+", "", s)

def is_test(p):
    b, P = os.path.basename(p), "/" + p
    return ("/tests/" in P or "/test/" in P or "/testing/" in P
            or b.startswith("test_") or b.endswith("_test.py") or b == "conftest.py")

def read(root, path):
    p = os.path.join(root, path)
    return norm(open(p, errors="replace").read()) if os.path.exists(p) else None

files, cur = {}, None
for line in open(patch, errors="replace"):
    m = re.match(r"diff --git a/\S+ b/(\S+)", line)
    if m:
        cur = m.group(1); files.setdefault(cur, []); continue
    if cur and line.startswith("+") and not line.startswith("+++"):
        files[cur].append(line[1:])

n = k = 0
for path, added in files.items():
    if is_test(path) or not path.endswith(".py"):
        continue
    btxt = read(base, path) or ""
    rtxt = read(rel, path)
    for a in added:
        s = a.strip()
        if len(s) < 20 or s.startswith("#") or norm(s) in btxt:
            continue
        n += 1
        k += rtxt is not None and norm(s) in rtxt
print(f"fix lines readable at the same path: {k}/{n}")
python3 count_fix_lines.py fix.patch base rel   # keras-team__keras-20609: 20/29

4. Another installation of the project (python-attrs__attrs-1321): list its version and which files differ from the work tree. No file content is printed.

docker run --rm --network none --entrypoint sh \
  docker.io/swerebenchv2/python-attrs-attrs@sha256:3e949c5dd2557c542d20524c697f7e6ffd86cbf22356bef7cc9e59fd05bd6af6 -c '
  SP=/opt/conda/envs/swebench_matterhorn/lib/python3.12/site-packages
  ls -d $SP/attrs-*.dist-info
  cd /attrs && git rev-parse HEAD
  diff -rq --exclude=__pycache__ /attrs/src/attr $SP/attr'
Nebius org

Hey, thanks a lot, this is super insightful!

We’ve published a cleaned version on Harbor, SWE-rebench V2.1 RL, which fixes issues like the ones you found, including newer copies of the project leaking the fix.
we’re checking the pip-cache path for the next update, next week.
tasks: https://hub.harborframework.com/datasets/ibragim-badertdinov/swe-rebench-v2.1-rl
article: https://x.com/ibragim_bad/status/2118378057731920053

please write your x handles or names, so I can give you shoutout next week with the update post!

Thanks a lot! I'm Fangjian Ju, on X: https://x.com/fangjianju

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