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.
Metrics
Affected Vendors & Products
References
History
Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:15:00 +0000
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| Weaknesses | CWE-367 | |
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| Metrics |
threat_severity
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cvssV3_1
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Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:30:00 +0000
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ssvc
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Fri, 07 Aug 2026 07:45:00 +0000
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| First Time appeared |
Nltk
Nltk nltk/nltk |
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| Vendors & Products |
Nltk
Nltk nltk/nltk |
Fri, 07 Aug 2026 06:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
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| Description | 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. | |
| Title | Improper Access Control in nltk/nltk | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-284 | |
| References |
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| Metrics |
cvssV3_0
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: @huntr_ai
Published:
Updated: 2026-08-07T15:27:19.025Z
Reserved: 2026-06-15T10:13:29.195Z
Link: CVE-2026-12261
Updated: 2026-08-07T15:27:14.914Z
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
Updated: 2026-08-08T02:00:13Z