Description
NLTK before 3.10.3 contains a remote code execution vulnerability in AllowlistUnpickler that validates only the pickle module string and not the global name, allowing attackers to resolve dotted names by attribute traversal to callables outside the allowlisted namespace. Attackers can craft untrusted transition-parser models that execute arbitrary commands when TransitionParser.parse loads the model through allowlisted_pickle_load.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| nltk | nltk | 3.10.0 – < 3.10.3 | 3.10.3 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | nltk | 3.10.3-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | nltk | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | nltk | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | nltk | No fix yet | — |
Show 7 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 26.04 LTS | nltk | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS | nltk | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS | nltk | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS | nltk | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | nltk | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | nltk | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS | nltk | No fix yet | — |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | python-nltk | 3.10.3-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:11587-1 |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | open-webui | 0.11.3-r1 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PyPI | nltk | >= 3.10.0, < 3.10.3 | 3.10.3 | GHSA-5gh2-94qg-qppq |
Advisories 1
- openSUSE-SU-2026:11587-1 python313-nltk-3.10.3-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Aug 26, 2026
References
- Patch Commit patch
- https://github.com/nltk/nltk product
- https://github.com/nltk/nltk/blob/v3.10.2/nltk/picklesec.py#L119-L124 technical-description
- VulnCheck Advisory: NLTK 3.10.0 through 3.10.2 Remote Code Execution via AllowlistUnpickler Dotted-Name Bypass third-party-advisory