CVE-2026-80206
NLTK 3.10.2 Regular Expression Denial of Service via tgrep
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- VulnCheck
Description
NLTK before 3.10.3 contains a regular expression denial of service (ReDoS) vulnerability in the tgrep module. The _tgrep_node_action function compiles user-supplied regular expressions embedded in /regex/ pattern nodes and executes them via re.search against tree node labels without any validation or timeout. An attacker who controls the tgrep pattern (e.g., via tgrep_positions() or tgrep_compile() exposed to external input) can supply a pattern that triggers catastrophic backtracking, causing indefinite CPU saturation that blocks the Python process.
Public exploit
A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit or proof of concept: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-w3v8-gmh9-3wv7) (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryexploit
Timeline
ID reserved
By VulnCheck
- 1 day later
· 1 day later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| VulnCheckCNA (assigner) | 4.0 | High8.2 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
| VulnCheckCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium5.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 4.0 | High8.2 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.44% · top 61% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.2.
Weakness
Affected products
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
References (2)
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-w3v8-gmh9-3wv7) (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryexploit
- VulnCheck Advisory: NLTK 3.10.2 Regular Expression Denial of Service via tgrep (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisory
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-w3v8-gmh9-3wv7 (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2026-80206)Record last updated .