NLTK versions before 3.10.3 contain a filesystem containment bypass vulnerability in the Downloader.download and Downloader.incr_download methods that allows attackers to overwrite files outside the install root through pre-existing hardlinks. Attackers with write access to a shared downloader directory can create hardlinks pointing to outside-root files that are then overwritten during normal package extraction, mutating files outside the intended install tree.

There are packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability referenced in the following CVE:

  - NLTK versions before 3.10.3 contain a filesystem containment bypass vulnerability in the
    Downloader.download and Downloader.incr_download methods that allows attackers to overwrite files outside
    the install root through pre-existing hardlinks. Attackers with write access to a shared downloader
    directory can create hardlinks pointing to outside-root files that are then overwritten during normal
    package extraction, mutating files outside the intended install tree. (CVE-2026-81727)

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - NLTK versions before 3.10.3 contain a filesystem containment bypass vulnerability in the     Downloader.download and Downloader.incr_download methods that allows attackers to overwrite files outside     the install root through pre-existing hardlinks. Attackers with write access to a shared downloader     directory can create hardlinks pointing to outside-root files that are then overwritten during normal     package extraction, mutating files outside the intended install tree. (CVE-2026-81727)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
462521	Echo: nltk: security update to 3.10.3	Tenable Cloud Security	Echo Local Security Checks	Local	medium
462521	Echo: nltk: security update to 3.10.3	Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security	Echo Local Security Checks	Local	medium
341147	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-81727	Nessus	Misc.	Local	medium

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2026-81727

medium

Tenable Plugins

medium

medium

medium