{"id":"CVE-2026-78680","title":"NLTK versions before 3.10.3 fail to use validated absolute paths when invoking the Graphviz dot binary in dependencygraph.dot2img and AlignedSent._repr_svg_, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious dot binary …","summary":"NLTK versions before 3.10.3 fail to use validated absolute paths when invoking the Graphviz dot binary in dependencygraph.dot2img and AlignedSent._repr_svg_, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious dot binary …","severity":"high","cvss":7.8,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cwe":["CWE-426","CWE-427"],"vendor":"nltk","product":"nltk","affected":["nltk < 3.10.3"],"patched":["nltk 3.10.3"],"published":"2026-08-25","updated":"2026-10-12","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-12T21:10:00.227","source":"NVD","sourceUrl":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78680","references":[{"url":"https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm","label":"disclosure@vulncheck.com"},{"url":"https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-arbitrary-code-execution-via-graphviz-dot-binary","label":"disclosure@vulncheck.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm","label":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0"},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78680"},{"url":"https://github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/1a3cd1764ab3deb084fb66d0ffb4873717659538"},{"url":"https://github.com/nltk/nltk"},{"url":"https://github.com/nltk/nltk/releases/tag/v3.10.3"},{"url":"https://pypi.org/project/nltk"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm"}],"tags":["nvd","osv","pip","ghsa"],"epss":0.00177,"epssPercentile":0.0719,"aliases":["GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm","PYSEC-2026-3868"],"ecosystem":"pip","ingestedAt":"2026-09-01T20:32:02.002Z","slug":"CVE-2026-78680","body":"## Overview\n\nNLTK versions before 3.10.3 fail to use validated absolute paths when invoking the Graphviz dot binary in dependencygraph.dot2img and AlignedSent._repr_svg_, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious dot binary in the search path or current working directory. Attackers can exploit bare-name binary resolution on Windows via the current working directory or on Unix-like systems via relative PATH entries to execute their binary instead of the legitimate Graphviz tool.\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.\n\n## Package advisory (CVE-2026-78680)\n\nAffected packages:\n\n- `nltk < 3.10.3`\n\nPatched in:\n\n- `nltk 3.10.3`\n\nSource: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm","depth":"twilight","depthScore":43,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":42.9,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}