Description
NLTK before 3.10.3 contains a regular expression denial of service (ReDoS) vulnerability in the tgrep module. The _tgrep_node_action function compiles user-supplied regular expressions embedded in /regex/ pattern nodes and executes them via re.search against tree node labels without any validation or timeout. An attacker who controls the tgrep pattern (e.g., via tgrep_positions() or tgrep_compile() exposed to external input) can supply a pattern that triggers catastrophic backtracking, causing indefinite CPU saturation that blocks the Python process.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| nltk | nltk | < 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 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 | — |
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PyPI | nltk | < 3.10.3 | 3.10.3 | GHSA-w3v8-gmh9-3wv7 |
References
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-w3v8-gmh9-3wv7) vendor-advisory
- VulnCheck Advisory: NLTK 3.10.2 Regular Expression Denial of Service via tgrep third-party-advisory