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CVE-2026-12261
Published:August 07, 2026
Updated:August 25, 2026
A vulnerability in "nltk.downloader" in nltk/nltk versions <= 3.9.4 allows for cross-package resource and model poisoning. The downloader extracts package archives into shared namespaces such as "corpora/" and "taggers/" instead of package-isolated roots, and validates package integrity only after the archive has been written and extracted. This design flaw enables one package to overwrite another package's trusted resources within the same namespace, making the changes immediately active through ordinary NLTK APIs. This issue persists across fresh interpreter restarts and can affect downstream workflows, including machine learning pipelines and reproducibility-sensitive environments.
Affected Packages
nltk (CONDA):
Affected version(s) >=2.0.3 <3.10.0
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 3.10.0
https://github.com/nltk/nltk.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) =v3.9.2 <v3.10.0
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version v3.10.0
nltk (PYTHON):
Affected version(s) >=0.8 <3.10.0
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 3.10.0
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CVSS v4
Base Score:
6
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
PASSIVE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
NONE
Vulnerable System Integrity
HIGH
Vulnerable System Availability
NONE
Subsequent System Confidentiality
NONE
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
5.3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
NONE
Weakness Type (CWE)
Improper Access Control
EPSS
Base Score:
0.19