NLTK StreamBackedCorpusView Bypasses pathsec.ENFORCE Arbitrary File Read
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-22 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
NLTK before 3.10.0 contains an arbitrary local file read vulnerability in StreamBackedCorpusView that bypasses pathsec.ENFORCE by calling builtins.open() directly instead of pathsec.open(). Attackers who control the fileid argument can read arbitrary local files regardless of the ENFORCE setting, including sensitive system files and application credentials.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nltk | nltk | before 3.10.0 | 3.10.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | nltk (PyPI) | before 3.10.0 | 3.10.0 | Patch available | GHSA-x5ph-mj9p-rfr8 |
- nltk Vendornltk Affected before 3.10.0 Fixed in 3.10.0 Patch available CNA
- nltk (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 3.10.0 Fixed in 3.10.0 Patch available GHSA-x5ph-mj9p-rfr8
Remediation
- Fix · CNA nltk (nltk) Fixed in 3.10.0
- Fix · GHSA-x5ph-mj9p-rfr8 nltk (PyPI) Fixed in 3.10.0 Advisory →
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
nltk 3.10.0
5 records Highest priority Priority HIGH 3 HIGH, 1 MEDIUM, 1 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-44528 NLTK before 3.10.0 Insecure Default Configuration in pathsec.pyPriority HIGH 77
- TI-2026-44525 NLTK 3.9.4 Path Traversal via FrameNet and NKJP ReadersPriority HIGH 69
- TI-2026-46953 NLTK before 3.10.0 Arbitrary File Read via FileSystemPathPointerPriority MEDIUM 64
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Lightspeed Core | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Not affected: 3 products
- Exploit Intelligence
- OpenShift Lightspeed
- Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-63312
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-x5ph-mj9p-rfr8
- 2026-10-14 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile
References
More Nltk vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-00629 Arbitrary Code Execution in NLTK StanfordSegmenter via Untrusted JAR Loading CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2025-12800 Zip Slip Vulnerability in nltk/nltk Leading to Remote Code Execution CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2026-55173 NLTK before 3.10.3 JVM Argument Injection via Per-Call Options CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
- TI-2026-55155 NLTK before 3.10.3 Remote Code Execution via Unsafe Pickle Deserialization CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
- TI-2026-56370 nltk PorterStemmer before 3.10.3 Quadratic-time DoS CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-55172 NLTK 3.10.2 Path Traversal via corpus-reader constructors CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-63312 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-63312 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-x5ph-mj9p-rfr8 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-63312 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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