NLTK versions before 3.10.0 contain a regular expression denial of service vulnerability in Text.findall() and TokenSearcher.findall() methods that accept user-supplied regular expressions without validation or timeout. Attackers can supply crafted regex patterns that cause catastrophic backtracking, resulting in indefinite CPU saturation and denial of service to all users of the Python process.
References
| Link | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-rrv8-h7p8-rx55 | Exploit Vendor Advisory |
| https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-3.10.0-redos-via-text-findall-unvalidated-regex | Third Party Advisory |
| http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/01/3 |
Configurations
History
No history.
Information
Published : 2026-08-26 11:16
Updated : 2026-09-03 05:15
NVD link : CVE-2026-80205
Mitre link : CVE-2026-80205
CVE.ORG link : CVE-2026-80205
JSON object : View
Products Affected
nltk
- nltk
CWE
CWE-1333
Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
