CVE-2025-14009
HIGHCVSS v3.1: 8.8 · EPSS: 0.0071 (48.7 percentile)
Source data as of:
At a glance
- Severity
- HIGH
- CVSS
- 8.8 v3.1 · NVD
- EPSS
- 0.0071 (48.7 percentile) · FIRST.org
- CISA KEV
- No
- Type
- Code Injection · NVD CWE
- Attack conditions (CVSS vector)
- NetworkNo user interaction · Source: NVD Vector
- Affected vendors
- nltk
- Published
- 2026-02-18 · Modified: 2026-06-30
- References
- Jump to references (5)
CVSS / EPSS / KEV
Source — CVSS: NVD · EPSS: FIRST.org · KEV: CISA. Data & Sources
Description
A critical vulnerability exists in the NLTK downloader component of nltk/nltk, affecting all versions. The _unzip_iter function in nltk/downloader.py uses zipfile.extractall() without performing path validation or security checks. This allows attackers to craft malicious zip packages that, when downloaded and extracted by NLTK, can execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability arises because NLTK assumes all downloaded packages are trusted and extracts them without validation. If a malicious package contains Python files, such as __init__.py, these files are executed automatically upon import, leading to remote code execution. This issue can result in full system compromise, including file system access, network access, and potential persistence mechanisms.
References
Reference URLs as listed by NVD, grouped by a mechanical match on the link's host/pattern. Labels describe the link type only.
- Reference https://huntr.com/bounties/49ecbc02-054e-4470-b2e0-b267936cc4e4
- Distro https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:10184
- Distro https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-14009
- Distro https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2440724
- Distro https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2025/cve-2025-14009.json