CVE-2026-65915

NLTK versions before 3.10.0 contain a logic bug in FileSystemPathPointer.open() where the sandbox validation check compares a normalized path against itself, making the security check permanently inert. Attackers can pass file:// URLs to nltk.data.load() to read arbitrary files accessible to the process user, including credentials and configuration files.

CVSS 4.0

7.1CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS 3.1

6.5CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS

0.4% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days; higher than 34% of CVEs (scores of 2026-10-25)

CWE

CWE-284

Published

2026-08-22

Modified

2026-10-14

Record from

the NVD, synced 2026-10-19

Affected

• nltk:nltk

Packages (OSV)

References

• https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-72r2-7mfr-5xr9
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-arbitrary-file-read-via-filesystempathpointer
• https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-72r2-7mfr-5xr9

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