Skip to content
Fencer Intel
high 7.5

CVE-2026-54293 json

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

published 5mo ago modified 2mo ago also EUVD-2026-38333 , GHSA-p4gq-832x-fm9v , PYSEC-2026-2078

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

Is CVE-2026-54293 in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

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
4mo ago

Exploit prediction

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

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
GitHub 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

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 Intel 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.

The maintainers of nltk/nltk published their own advisory on GitHub. Reviewed sources take precedence over it.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.