Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-54293

high Nessus Plugin ID 322136

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

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

- NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) is a suite of open source Python modules, data sets, and tutorials supporting research and development in Natural Language Processing. Prior to 3.10.0-rc1, nltk.data.load() in NLTK is vulnerable to path traversal via URL-encoded path separators and traversal segments when using the nltk: URL scheme. The unsafe-path regex check is performed before url2pathname() decodes the %xx sequences (a classic decode-after-check / TOCTOU-style flaw), allowing an attacker to bypass the protection documented in NLTK's SECURITY.md and read arbitrary files from the filesystem. While literal traversal strings such as ../../../etc/passwd are correctly blocked, encoded variants such as %2fetc%2fpasswd, %2e%2e%2f..., and ..%2f..%2f slip past the regex and are subsequently decoded into a real filesystem path. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.10.0-rc1. (CVE-2026-54293)

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

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-54293

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-54293

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 322136

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_54293.nasl

Version: 1.3

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 6/22/2026

Updated: 7/2/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3

Percentile: 23.72

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5

Temporal Score: 4.5

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-54293

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 7.1

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:nltk, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:nltk, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04:-:lts

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 6/16/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-54293