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  5. CVE-2026-78680

CVE-2026-78680: NLTK: Uncontrolled search path when invoking the Graphviz 'dot' binary

September 1, 2026

Two NLTK sites executed the Graphviz dot program by bare name, so process creation resolved it via the search path — and on Windows via the current working directory — rather than a validated absolute location. An attacker who can place a file named dot where resolution looks (the CWD on Windows, or a writable/relative entry such as . on PATH) has their binary executed in place of Graphviz (arbitrary code execution).

Affected (<= 3.10.2):

  • nltk.parse.dependencygraph.dot2img — called find_binary("dot") but discarded the returned validated path and then ran the bare name ["dot", ...], so the validation had no effect.
  • nltk.translate.api.AlignedSent._repr_svg_ — ran the bare name with no validation at all (IPython SVG rendering).

This is the same class already fixed for the senna, weka, boxer, malt, repp and hunpos wrappers. nltk.internals.find_binary refuses a CWD-relative match for a bare tool name and returns only a trusted absolute path; the fix runs that path in both sites.


References

  • github.com/advisories/GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm
  • github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/1a3cd1764ab3deb084fb66d0ffb4873717659538
  • github.com/nltk/nltk/releases/tag/v3.10.3
  • github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm
  • nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78680
  • www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-arbitrary-code-execution-via-graphviz-dot-binary

Code Behaviors & Features

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Affected versions

All versions before 3.10.3

Fixed versions

  • 3.10.3

Solution

Upgrade to version 3.10.3 or above.

Impact 7.8 HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Learn more about CVSS

Weakness

  • CWE-426: Untrusted Search Path
  • CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element

Source file

pypi/nltk/CVE-2026-78680.yml

Spotted a mistake? Edit the file on GitLab.

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