boxscore/security
CVE · referencelatest edition

Reference page — cumulative record through Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2026-12259

nltk nltk/nltk — Improper Input Validation in nltk/nltk
  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS    EPSS   %ile   KEV
   N   L   N   R  U  N  H  N    6.5   .0010    0.9     —
AFFECTED
  Product    Versions       Fixed
  nltk/nltk  unspecified –  —
TIMELINE
  Jun 15  Reserved by @huntr_ai
  Aug 3   Published (CNA: @huntr_ai)
  Oct 15  RESCORED — CVE-2026-12259 (nltk/nltk). CVSS 5.3 → 6.5 (NVD).
CWE-494 · CNA: @huntr_ai · CVSS v3.1 · 1 reference · NVD status: Analyzed

Description

In nltk version 3.9.4, the `nltk.downloader.Downloader._download_package()` function writes downloaded package bytes to disk and may extract them before enforcing SHA-256 or MD5 checksum validation. This allows an attacker to tamper with the package response body for `info.url` through a compromised mirror, malicious proxy, or other source-substitution condition, leading to the installation of attacker-controlled package bytes. The vulnerability can result in malicious corpus or model content being trusted by downstream users or applications.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
DateEventDetail
June 15, 2026ReservedReserved by @huntr_ai
August 3, 2026PublishedPublished (CNA: @huntr_ai)
October 15, 2026RESCOREDRESCORED — CVE-2026-12259 (nltk/nltk). CVSS 5.3 → 6.5 (NVD).

Affected

Affected products and packages — 1 row
VendorProduct / PackageEcosystemVersion introducedFixed
nltknltk/nltk—unspecified—

Weaknesses

CWE-494

References (1)

Related

Authoritative record: CVE-2026-12259 at cve.org

Vendors: nltk

Weaknesses: CWE-494

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2026-12259 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.