diff --git a/.github/workflows/actions.yml b/.github/workflows/actions.yml
index d554b7d..0fa7f35 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/actions.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/actions.yml
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ jobs:
   surpyval_ci:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Set-up Python 3.x
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: '3.10'
       
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ jobs:
           coverage html
 
       - name: Upload coverage html report artifact
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: coverage-html-report
           path: htmlcov/
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index f29c293..e176e44 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 # For development, use requirements_dev.txt instead
 lifelines==0.27.4
 numba==0.56.4
+numdifftools>=0.9.40
 numpy-indexed==0.3.5
 reliability==0.8.6
-matplotlib==3.6
\ No newline at end of file
+matplotlib==3.6
+scipy<1.14.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/surpyval/tests/test_parametric_security.py b/surpyval/tests/test_parametric_security.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b51c2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/surpyval/tests/test_parametric_security.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import pytest
+import surpyval as surv
+from surpyval.univariate.parametric.parametric import Parametric
+
+def test_from_dict_security_validation():
+    # Attempt to load a dictionary with a non-distribution attribute
+    payload = {
+        "parameterization": "parametric",
+        "distribution": "__builtins__",
+        "how": "MLE",
+        "offset": False,
+        "lfp": False,
+        "zi": False,
+        "params": [1, 2]
+    }
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Invalid distribution: __builtins__"):
+        Parametric.from_dict(payload)
+
+def test_from_dict_valid_distribution():
+    # Fit a simple model to get a valid dict
+    x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
+    model = surv.Weibull.fit(x)
+    model_dict = model.to_dict()
+
+    # Should not raise any error
+    loaded_model = Parametric.from_dict(model_dict)
+    assert loaded_model.dist.name == "Weibull"
diff --git a/surpyval/univariate/parametric/parametric.py b/surpyval/univariate/parametric/parametric.py
index f19b51f..8393163 100755
--- a/surpyval/univariate/parametric/parametric.py
+++ b/surpyval/univariate/parametric/parametric.py
@@ -16,6 +16,31 @@
 
 CB_COLOUR = "#e94c54"
 
+ALLOWED_DISTRIBUTIONS = [
+    "Bernoulli",
+    "Beta",
+    "ExactEventTime",
+    "Exponential",
+    "ExpoWeibull",
+    "FixedEventProbability",
+    "Galton",
+    "Gamma",
+    "Gauss",
+    "Gumbel",
+    "GumbelLEV",
+    "InstantlyOccurs",
+    "Logistic",
+    "LogLogistic",
+    "LogNormal",
+    "MixtureModel",
+    "NeverOccurs",
+    "Normal",
+    "Parametric",
+    "Rayleigh",
+    "Uniform",
+    "Weibull",
+]
+
 
 class Parametric(Distribution):
     """
@@ -80,6 +105,11 @@ def from_dict(cls, model_dict):
                 "Must create parametric model from parametric model dict"
             )
 
+        if model_dict["distribution"] not in ALLOWED_DISTRIBUTIONS:
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"Invalid distribution: {model_dict['distribution']}"
+            )
+
         dist = getattr(surv, model_dict["distribution"])
         how = model_dict["how"]
         if "data" in model_dict: