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TI-2026-55174 Aliases CVE-2026-79676GHSA-p4rw-rvv2-7xwr

NLTK before 3.10.3 Path Traversal via Symlink Bypass

Priority HIGH 69CWE-22Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High
Attack requirements
Present
Impact type
Information disclosure
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · None · None
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 5 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 versions before 3.10.3 contain a path traversal vulnerability in corpus readers that reopen root-derived paths using built-in open() instead of nltk.pathsec.open(), allowing symlinks to escape trusted roots. Attackers who stage symlinked corpus files under a trusted data root can disclose outside-root content through normal corpus reader methods like channels(), domains(), and synonyms().

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00447 39th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Partial nltk (nltk): 3.10.3nltk (PyPI): 3.10.3Red Hat: 5 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

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-p4rw-rvv2-7xwr
  • 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-p4rw-rvv2-7xwr

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:nltk:nltk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*before 3.10.3Vulnerablenltk
  • cpe:2.3:a:nltk:nltk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 3.10.3 Vulnerable ·nltk

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA nltk (nltk) Fixed in 3.10.3
  • Fix · GHSA-p4rw-rvv2-7xwr 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

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Exploit IntelligenceAffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Lightspeed CoreAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
OpenShift LightspeedAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-79676
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-p4rw-rvv2-7xwr

References

  • 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 41 →

Sources