CVE-2026-33236

HIGH

8.1

Description

NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) is a suite of open source Python modules, data sets, and tutorials supporting research and development in Natural Language Processing. In versions 3.9.3 and prior, the NLTK downloader does not validate the `subdir` and `id` attributes when processing remote XML index files. Attackers can control a remote XML index server to provide malicious values containing path traversal sequences (such as `../`), which can lead to arbitrary directory creation, arbitrary file creation, and arbitrary file overwrite. Commit 89fe2ec2c6bae6e2e7a46dad65cc34231976ed8a patches the issue.

CVE Details

CVSS v3.1 Score8.1

SeverityHIGH

CVSS VectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Attack VectorNETWORK

ComplexityLOW

Privileges RequiredNONE

User InteractionREQUIRED

Published3/20/2026

Last Modified3/23/2026

Sourcenvd

Honeypot Sightings0

Affected Products

nltk:nltk

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-22

References

https://github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/89fe2ec2c6bae6e2e7a46dad65cc34231976ed8a(security-advisories@github.com)

https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-469j-vmhf-r6v7(security-advisories@github.com)

IOC Correlations

No correlations recorded

This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.