NLTK before 3.10.3 contains a server-side request forgery vulnerability in nltk.pathsec.urlopen (and callers nltk.data.load, nltk.downloader.Downloader.index/download) when an HTTP proxy is configured. pathsec.urlopen validates the requested hostname locally, but proxy-handler inheritance disables the safe HTTP/HTTPS handlers so the actual fetch is performed by the proxy against a destination that is never re-validated. An attacker can supply a validated public URL that the proxy forwards to an internal loopback-only service, allowing disclosure of internal HTTP resources, loading of forged downloader indexes, and installation of attacker-chosen package content.
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-ssrf-protection-bypass-via-proxy
https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-6ww7-3frv-cqxh
Published: 2026-08-25
Updated: 2026-08-28
Base Score: 7.8
Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N
Severity: High
Base Score: 7.5
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Severity: High
Base Score: 8.7
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Severity: High
EPSS: 0.00245