CVE-2026-78680
NLTK before 3.10.3 Arbitrary Code Execution via Graphviz dot Binary
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 8.5 High
- Published
- Aug 25, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 25, 2026
- Reserved
- Aug 25, 2026
Description
NLTK versions before 3.10.3 fail to use validated absolute paths when invoking the Graphviz dot binary in dependencygraph.dot2img and AlignedSent._repr_svg_, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious dot binary in the search path or current working directory. Attackers can exploit bare-name binary resolution on Windows via the current working directory or on Unix-like systems via relative PATH entries to execute their binary instead of the legitimate Graphviz tool.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 8.5 High | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N | VulnCheck |
| 3.1 | 7.8 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H | VulnCheck |
Weaknesses
- CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
nltknltk |
|
References
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm)vendor-advisory
- VulnCheck Advisory: NLTK before 3.10.3 Arbitrary Code Execution via Graphviz dot Binarythird-party-advisory
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