Echo: nltk: security update to 3.10.0

medium Tenable Cloud Security Plugin ID 472774

Description

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

- A vulnerability in `nltk.downloader` in nltk/nltk versions <= 3.9.4 allows for cross-package resource and
model poisoning. The downloader extracts package archives into shared namespaces such as `corpora/` and
`taggers/` instead of package-isolated roots, and validates package integrity only after the archive has
been written and extracted. This design flaw enables one package to overwrite another package's trusted
resources within the same namespace, making the changes immediately active through ordinary NLTK APIs.
This issue persists across fresh interpreter restarts and can affect downstream workflows, including
machine learning pipelines and reproducibility-sensitive environments. (CVE-2026-12261)

Solution

Update the nltk library and its related packages to version 3.10.0 or later.

See Also

https://advisory.echohq.com/cve/CVE-2026-12261

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 472774

Version: Revision 1.1

Type: Local

Published: 10/5/2026

Updated: 10/13/2026

Supported Sensors: Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3

Percentile: 23.63

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 5.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:C/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-12261

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.5

Temporal Score: 5.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 10/4/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/7/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-12261