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Fencer Vulns
high 7.5

CVE-2026-54293 json

NLTK: URL-Encoded Path Traversal in nltk.data.load() Allows Arbitrary Local File Read

published 2026-06-16 4 mo ago modified 2026-09-10 1 mo ago also GHSA-p4gq-832x-fm9v , PYSEC-2026-2078 , EUVD-2026-38333

cvss
7.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.6%
EPSS 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 50%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) is a suite of open source Python modules, data sets, and tutorials supporting research and development in Natural Language Processing. Prior to 3.10.0-rc1, nltk.data.load() in NLTK is vulnerable to path traversal via URL-encoded path separators and traversal segments when using the nltk: URL scheme. The unsafe-path regex check is performed before url2pathname() decodes the %xx sequences (a classic decode-after-check / TOCTOU-style flaw), allowing an attacker to bypass the protection documented in NLTK's SECURITY.md and read arbitrary files from the filesystem. While literal traversal strings such as ../../../etc/passwd are correctly blocked, encoded variants such as %2fetc%2fpasswd, %2e%2e%2f..., and ..%2f..%2f slip past the regex and are subsequently decoded into a real filesystem path. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.10.0-rc1.

Patch / fix

  • pypi nltk 3.10.0
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 1783701598, 1787330903
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.4 1786635926, 1787073459, 1787330585
  • nltk Debian 14 3.10.0-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-54293

  • python-nltk openSUSE Tumbleweed 3.10.0rc1-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:11098-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-54293 updated cvss 7.5

nltk: NLTK: Information Disclosure via Path Traversal in `nltk.data.load()`

  • Red Hat Exploit Intelligence exploit-intelligence-tech-preview/vulnerability-analysis-rhel9
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 ansible-automation-platform-25/lightspeed-chatbot-rhel8
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) rhoai/odh-workbench-jupyter-pytorch-llmcompressor-cuda-py312-rhel9
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 rhoai/odh-ta-lmes-job-rhel9 1787330903, rhoai/odh-llama-stack-core-rhel9 1783701598
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:42644
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.4 rhoai/odh-ta-lmes-job-rhel9 1791470318, rhoai/odh-llama-stack-core-rhel9 1786635926, rhoai/odh-trustyai-garak-lls-provider-dsp-rhel9 1791785804, rhoai/odh-trustyai-nemo-guardrails-server-rhel9 1787330585, rhoai/odh-pipeline-runtime-pytorch-llmcompressor-cuda-py312-rhel9 1787073459
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:60520
  • Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed openshift-lightspeed/lightspeed-ocp-rag-rhel9, openshift-lightspeed/lightspeed-service-api-rhel9, openshift-lightspeed-tech-preview/lightspeed-rag-tool-rhel9 Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 rhoai/odh-rhel9-operator 1784004914, rhoai/odh-rhel9-operator 1788331391, rhoai/odh-vllm-cpu-rhel9 1782397826, rhoai/odh-vllm-cpu-rhel9 1786712073, rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel9 1782826282, rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel9 1788312226, +145 more Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.4 rhoai/odh-cli-rhel9 1787330837, rhoai/odh-cli-rhel9 1791509689, rhoai/rhai-cli-rhel9 1787330837, rhoai/rhai-cli-rhel9 1791509689, rhoai/odh-automl-rhel9 1786612415, rhoai/odh-automl-rhel9 1791535789, +201 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
4 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.63% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 50% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-p4gq-832x-fm9v referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CISA ADP 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
OSV 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
GitHub 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
pypi nltk
<3.10.0
3.10.0

Affected products

  • nltk nltk
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.4
  • Red Hat Exploit Intelligence
  • Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed
  • Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
  • Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.