CVE-2026-81724
NLTK before 3.10.3 Denial of Service via Uncontrolled Recursion
Description
NLTK before 3.10.3 contains an uncontrolled recursion vulnerability in nltk.featstruct.FeatStructReader that allows unauthenticated attackers to cause a denial of service by supplying deeply nested feature-structure input. Attackers can craft trivial payloads with nested brackets that exceed Python's recursion limit and raise an unhandled RecursionError, crashing applications that parse user-supplied feature structures or feature grammars.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 27, 2026, 5:21 p.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 27, 2026, 8:18 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 | |||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | 83251b91-4cc7-4094-a5c7-464a1b83ea10 | ||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | [email protected] | ||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | MITRE-CVE | ||||
| CVSS 4.0 | MEDIUM | 83251b91-4cc7-4094-a5c7-464a1b83ea10 | ||||
| CVSS 4.0 | MEDIUM | [email protected] |
Solution
- Update NLTK to version 3.10.3 or later.
- Avoid parsing deeply nested feature structures.
- Implement recursion depth limits for parsers.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-81724.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-81724 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-81724
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-81724 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-81724 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Aug. 27, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Reference https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-cw6x-m8jw-qmrh Added SSVC {'id': 'CVE-2026-81724', 'role': 'CISA Coordinator', 'options': [{'exploitation': 'poc'}, {'automatable': 'yes'}, {'technicalImpact': 'partial'}], 'version': '2.0.3', 'timestamp': '2026-08-27T18:28:30.462220Z'} -
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Aug. 27, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description NLTK before 3.10.3 contains an uncontrolled recursion vulnerability in nltk.featstruct.FeatStructReader that allows unauthenticated attackers to cause a denial of service by supplying deeply nested feature-structure input. Attackers can craft trivial payloads with nested brackets that exceed Python's recursion limit and raise an unhandled RecursionError, crashing applications that parse user-supplied feature structures or feature grammars. Added CVSS V4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Added CWE CWE-674 Added Affected New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/81xxx/CVE-2026-81724.json">CVE-2026-81724</a> Added Reference https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-cw6x-m8jw-qmrh Added Reference https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-3.10.3-denial-of-service-via-uncontrolled-recursion