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{"bugzilla": {"description": "nltk: NLTK: Arbitrary file overwrite and creation via path traversal in XML index files", "id": "2449824", "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2449824"}, "csaw": false, "cvss3": {"cvss3_base_score": "8.1", "cvss3_scoring_vector": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H", "status": "draft"}, "cwe": "CWE-22", "details": ["A flaw was found in NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit), a suite of open-source Python modules for Natural Language Processing. The NLTK downloader does not validate `subdir` and `id` attributes when processing remote XML index files. A remote attacker can exploit this path traversal vulnerability by controlling a malicious XML index server, providing specially crafted values. This can lead to arbitrary directory creation, arbitrary file creation, and arbitrary file overwrite on the system where NLTK is used."], "mitigation": {"lang": "en:us", "value": "To mitigate this issue, ensure that any applications utilizing the NLTK downloader are configured to only interact with trusted XML index servers. Restrict network access for the application using NLTK to prevent connections to untrusted external resources. This operational control reduces the risk of an attacker controlling a malicious server to exploit the path traversal vulnerability. A service restart or reload may be required for network configuration changes to take effect."}, "name": "CVE-2026-33236", "package_state": [{"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:lightspeed_core", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "lightspeed-core/lightspeed-stack-rhel9", "product_name": "Lightspeed Core"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:lightspeed_core", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "lightspeed-core/rag-tool-rhel9", "product_name": "Lightspeed Core"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_lightspeed", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "openshift-lightspeed/lightspeed-ocp-rag-rhel9", "product_name": "OpenShift Lightspeed"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_lightspeed", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "openshift-lightspeed/lightspeed-service-api-rhel9", "product_name": "OpenShift Lightspeed"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_lightspeed", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "openshift-lightspeed-tech-preview/lightspeed-rag-tool-rhel9", "product_name": "OpenShift Lightspeed"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-24/de-minimal-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-24/de-minimal-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-24/de-supported-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-24/de-supported-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-24/ee-minimal-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-24/ee-minimal-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-24/ee-supported-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-24/ee-supported-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/aap-cloud-metrics-collector-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/ansible-dev-tools-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/de-minimal-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/de-minimal-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/de-supported-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/de-supported-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/ee-cloud-services-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/ee-minimal-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/ee-minimal-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/ee-supported-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/ee-supported-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-25/lightspeed-chatbot-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-26/ansible-dev-tools-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-26/de-minimal-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-26/de-supported-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-26/ee-minimal-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-26/ee-supported-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-26/lightspeed-chatbot-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform/ee-minimal-rhel8", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform/ee-minimal-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "ansible-automation-platform-tech-preview/ansible-devspaces-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_ai", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "rhoai/odh-llama-stack-core-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_ai", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "rhoai/odh-pipeline-runtime-pytorch-llmcompressor-cuda-py312-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_ai", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "rhoai/odh-ta-lmes-job-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_ai", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "rhoai/odh-trustyai-nemo-guardrails-server-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_ai", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "rhoai/odh-workbench-jupyter-pytorch-llmcompressor-cuda-py312-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)"}], "public_date": "2026-03-20T22:47:10Z", "references": ["https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-33236\nhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33236\nhttps://github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/89fe2ec2c6bae6e2e7a46dad65cc34231976ed8a\nhttps://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-469j-vmhf-r6v7"], "statement": "IMPORTANT: This flaw in NLTK allows for arbitrary file and directory creation or overwrite due to a path traversal vulnerability in its downloader. An attacker controlling a malicious XML index server could exploit this by providing specially crafted `subdir` and `id` attributes. Red Hat products utilizing NLTK, such as components within Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Lightspeed Core, OpenShift Lightspeed, and Red Hat OpenShift AI, are affected if configured to use untrusted remote XML index servers.", "threat_severity": "Important"}

{"affected": [{"configurations": [{"platform": null, "status": "affected", "versions": {"scheme": "semver", "value": "[0,3.9.3]"}}], "enrichment": {"confidence": 100.0, "confidence_source": "matching", "scores": [{"score": 100.0, "source": "matching"}]}, "original": {"product": "nltk", "source": "cna", "vendor": "nltk"}, "product": "nltk", "vendor": "nltk"}], "analysis": {"en": {"generated_at": "2026-03-23T20:52:02.270633+00:00", "value": {"mitigation_remediation": ["Upgrade NLTK to a version newer than 3.9.3 that includes commit 89fe2ec2c6bae6e2e7a46dad65cc34231976ed8a.", "If an upgrade is not immediately possible, limit the downloader to trusted source URLs or disable the downloader feature entirely to prevent processing of external XML indices.", "After applying a patch, verify that the filesystem has not been altered by checking for unauthorized files or changes in directories."], "summary": {"action": "Immediate Patch", "impact": "Arbitrary File Overwrite via Path Traversal"}, "threat_synthesis": {"affected_systems": "Any installation of NLTK version 3.9.3 or earlier that uses the downloader feature to fetch corpora from remote XML indices is affected. The issue exists across all platforms where Python applications invoke the NLTK downloader to obtain data sets.", "description_and_impact": "The NLTK downloader fails to validate the subdir and id fields in remote XML index files, allowing an attacker to supply path traversal sequences such as ../. When a user downloads corpus data, these sequences can create arbitrary directories, create arbitrary files, or overwrite existing files. The result can be malicious code execution or data corruption, reflecting a classic improper restriction of operations within a file system flaw (CWE\u201122).", "risk_and_exploitability": "The vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 8.1, indicating high severity, but the EPSS score is below 1%, suggesting a low likelihood of exploitation in the wild. It is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Based on the description, it is inferred that the attack vector is remote: an adversary must host a malicious XML index server and a victim must trigger the NLTK downloader to retrieve data from that server, which enables the path traversal and file overwrite capability."}}}}, "created": "2026-03-23T09:52:15.091208+00:00", "updated": "2026-03-25T14:34:06.859949+00:00", "vendors": ["nltk", "nltk$PRODUCT$nltk"]}