Answer in brief
CVE-2026-78683 records a Critical severity (CVSS 9.6) vulnerability in NLTK before 3.10.0 Remote Code Execution via Unsafe Pickle Deserialization. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps nltk/nltk (generic), nltk (pip), nltk (pypi). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
CVSS is 9.6. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps nltk/nltk (generic), nltk (pip), nltk (pypi). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Product | Affected versions | Fixed versions |
|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:nltk:nltk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| nltk/nltkgeneric | >=0 <3.10.0 | 3.10.0 |
| nltkpip | <=3.9.4 | 3.10.0 |
| nltkpypi | >=0 <3.10.0 | 3.10.0 |
Published upstream
Aug 25, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Sep 8, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Aug 25, 2026
NLTK before 3.10.0 (affected versions <=3.9.4) contains an unsafe pickle deserialization vulnerability in the TransitionParser.parse() method (nltk/parse/transitionparser.py). The method calls pickle_load() with the default restricted=False, routing deserialization through WarningUnpickler, which does not override find_class() and therefore permits arbitrary class resolution. When an application loads an attacker-crafted model file, embedded pickle gadget chains execute arbitrary Python code with the privileges of the user running the application. NLTK provides a RestrictedUnpickler for safe deserialization, but it is not used by production code paths. Fixed in 3.10.0.
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.