HighVulnerability
GHSA-p4gq-832x-fm9v: Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK): URL-Encoded Path Traversal in nltk.data.load() Allows Arbitrary Local File Read
- Identifiers
- CVE-2026-54293GHSA-p4gq-832x-fm9v
- Published
- Record updated
- Affected
- nltk <= 3.9.4
- Fixed in
- No fixed version was stated when the source was last read.
- Known exploitation
- Not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog at the last check.
- EPSS
- 0.6%
Summary
NLTK's nltk.data.load() and find() functions allow path traversal through the nltk: URL scheme, letting an attacker read arbitrary local files. The _UNSAFE_NO_PROTOCOL_RE regex check runs on the raw resource string before url2pathname() decodes %xx sequences, so encoded separators and dot segments such as %2fetc%2fpasswd bypass it. The issue is tracked as CWE-22 and affects NLTK 3.9.4 and earlier under the default ENFORCE=False configuration.
Mitigation
The source does not state a fix yet. Check the original advisory for updates.
Affected packages in the Exposure Registry
Matched by package name and ecosystem. Each entry shows whether the package delegates to a language model and how many tracked packages depend on it.
- nltkPyPINo LLM dependency detected · 47 tracked dependents
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