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TI-2026-54692 Aliases CVE-2026-78680GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm

NLTK before 3.10.3 Arbitrary Code Execution via Graphviz dot Binary

Priority HIGH 72CWE-426Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Impact type
Code execution
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-426.

Summary

NLTK versions before 3.10.3 fail to use validated absolute paths when invoking the Graphviz dot binary in dependencygraph.dot2img and AlignedSent._repr_svg_, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious dot binary in the search path or current working directory. Attackers can exploit bare-name binary resolution on Windows via the current working directory or on Unix-like systems via relative PATH entries to execute their binary instead of the legitimate Graphviz tool.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00177 7th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed nltk (nltk): 3.10.3nltk (PyPI): 3.10.3

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
nltknltkbefore 3.10.33.10.3Patch availableCNA
—nltk (PyPI)before 3.10.33.10.3Patch availableGHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm
  • nltk Vendornltk Affected before 3.10.3 Fixed in 3.10.3 Patch available CNA
  • nltk (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 3.10.3 Fixed in 3.10.3 Patch available GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:nltk:nltk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——nltk
  • cpe:2.3:a:nltk:nltk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·nltk

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA nltk (nltk) Fixed in 3.10.3
  • Fix · GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm nltk (PyPI) Fixed in 3.10.3 Advisory →

Fixed in the same release

Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.

  • Release ·

    nltk 3.10.3

    7 records Highest priority Priority HIGH 6 HIGH, 1 MEDIUM

    Other records, highest priority first

    • TI-2026-55173 NLTK before 3.10.3 JVM Argument Injection via Per-Call OptionsPriority HIGH 81
    • TI-2026-55155 NLTK before 3.10.3 Remote Code Execution via Unsafe Pickle DeserializationPriority HIGH 81
    • TI-2026-55172 NLTK 3.10.2 Path Traversal via corpus-reader constructorsPriority HIGH 77
    Show all 7 records →

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-78680
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm

References

Advisory 2

Other 3

  • 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
See all 46 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences