CVE-2026-12261

NameCVE-2026-12261
DescriptionA 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.
SourceCVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)
Debian Bugs1144456

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source PackageReleaseVersionStatus
nltk (PTS)bullseye3.5-1vulnerable
bookworm3.8-1vulnerable
trixie3.9.1-2vulnerable
forky, sid3.10.3-1vulnerable

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

PackageTypeReleaseFixed VersionUrgencyOriginDebian Bugs
nltksource(unstable)(unfixed)1144456

Notes

[trixie] - nltk <no-dsa> (Minor issue)
https://huntr.com/bounties/8b8c381e-08a8-4e4f-bb46-a320c96a364f

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