Low severity3.7NVD Advisory· Published Aug 27, 2026· Updated Sep 24, 2026
CVE-2026-81723
CVE-2026-81723
Description
NLTK versions before 3.10.3 contain a quadratic CPU exhaustion vulnerability in XMLCorpusView._read_xml_fragment() that rescans accumulated XML fragments on every 1 KiB block read. Attackers can provide malformed XML corpus files to cause severe CPU consumption and denial of service through affected readers like BNCCorpusReader.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Affected packages
Versions sourced from the GitHub Security Advisory.
| Package | Affected versions | Patched versions |
|---|---|---|
nltkPyPI | < 3.10.3 | 3.10.3 |
Affected products
4- osv-coords3 versions
< 2.7.3-r27+ 2 more
- (no CPE)range: < 2.7.3-r27
- (no CPE)range: < 0.11.3-r1
- (no CPE)range: < 0.11.3-r1
Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
References
6- github.com/advisories/GHSA-vp2x-qp44-57v7ghsaADVISORY
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-81723ghsaADVISORY
- github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/7808692d451b962711005d954859bb83aabcf8faghsaWEB
- github.com/nltk/nltk/releases/tag/v3.10.3ghsaWEB
- github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-vp2x-qp44-57v7nvdWEB
- www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-3.10.3-quadratic-cpu-exhaustion-via-xmlcorpusviewnvdWEB
News mentions
1- Nltk Library: 16 Vulnerabilities Including Critical RCE Disclosed in BatchVypr Intelligence · Aug 27, 2026