CVE-2026-0846

Arbitrary File Read via Absolute Path Input in nltk.util.filestring()

At a glance

Severity: HIGH 7.5
EPSS: EPSS 0.55 % · percentile 46 (2026-10-27)
State: PUBLISHED
Published: 2026-03-09
Updated: 2026-09-16
Assigner: @huntr_ai
NVD status: Modified

Description

A vulnerability in the `filestring()` function of the `nltk.util` module in nltk version 3.9.2 allows arbitrary file read due to improper validation of input paths. The function directly opens files specified by user input without sanitization, enabling attackers to access sensitive system files by providing absolute paths or traversal paths. This vulnerability can be exploited locally or remotely, particularly in scenarios where the function is used in web APIs or other interfaces that accept user-supplied input.

Scores

Version	Score	Vector	Scored by
CVSS 3.0	HIGH 8.6	CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L	@huntr_ai
CVSS 3.1	HIGH 7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N	redhat-SADP
CVSS 3.1	HIGH 7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N	NVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary)
CVSS 3.1	HIGH 7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N	NVD · 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c (Secondary)
CVSS 3.0	HIGH 8.6	CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L	NVD · security@huntr.dev (Secondary)

Weaknesses (CWE)

Advisories

GHSA-h8wq-7xc4-p3qx — NLTK has Arbitrary File Read via Absolute Path Input in nltk.util.filestring()
PYSEC-2026-97 — A vulnerability in the `filestring()` function of the `nltk.util` module in nltk version 3.9.2 allows arbitrary file read due to improper validation of input pa

European references

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-10350
GCVE · GCVE-0-2026-0846

CERT-FR advisories

CERTFR-2026-AVI-1378 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
CERTFR-2026-AVI-1206 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
CERTFR-2026-AVI-0667 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
CERTFR-2026-AVI-0556 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits VMware · cert.ssi.gouv.fr

Affected configurations (NVD CPE)

cpe:2.3:a:nltk:nltk:3.9.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Affected products

Product	Versions
nltk · nltk/nltk	affected unspecified ≤ latest

References

Sources

Source	Licence
CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5)	CVE Program Terms of Use
EPSS (FIRST.org)	FIRST — attribution requested
ENISA EUVD	ENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged
CERT-FR (ANSSI)	Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0
NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds	Public domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD