High 8.1Published Mar 20, 2026

CVE-2026-33236NLTK has a Downloader Path Traversal Vulnerability (AFO) - Arbitrary File Overwrite

Updated under an hour ago (Oct 26, 2026, 1:50 PM ET)

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Every CVE for nltk

Exploited in the last 30 days

NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) is a suite of open source Python modules, data sets, and tutorials supporting research and development in Natural Language Processing. In versions 3.9.3 and prior, the NLTK downloader does not validate the `subdir` and `id` attributes when processing remote XML index files. Attackers can control a remote XML index server to provide malicious values containing path traversal sequences (such as `../`), which can lead to arbitrary directory creation, arbitrary file creation, and arbitrary file overwrite. Commit 89fe2ec2c6bae6e2e7a46dad65cc34231976ed8a patches the issue.

CVSS: 8.1 HIGH (v3.1, CNA)CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE): CWE-22
Known exploited: Not in CISA's KEV catalog
EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days): Not loaded for this CVE
Assigned by: GitHub_M
NVD analysis: Modified
Record last updated: Jul 21, 2026
First seen by InfoSec Signals: Oct 9, 2026

Affected products

Affected products

nltk nltk nltk:nltk (from the name)	through 3.9.3	CNA record
Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 redhat:openshift_ai	from 1776243238 not affected	CISA ADP
Red Hat Lightspeed Core redhat:lightspeed_core	All versions	CISA ADP
Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed redhat:openshift_lightspeed	All versions	CISA ADP
Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 redhat:ansible_automation_platform	2	CISA ADP
nltk nltk nltk:nltk	through 3.9.3	NVD

References

References

https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-469j-vmhf-r6v7	x-refsource-confirm, exploit, vendor-advisory
https://github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/89fe2ec2c6bae6e2e7a46dad65cc34231976ed8a	x-refsource-misc, patch
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:10184
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19712
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:37275
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:42644
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-33236
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2449824
https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-33236.json

The CVE record on cve.org NVD's entry

The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.