USN-8214-1: NLTK vulnerability

Publication date

28 April 2026

Overview

NLTK could be made to crash or run programs as your login if it opened a specially crafted zip file.


Packages

  • nltk - Natural Language Toolkit

Details

It was discovered that NLTK incorrectly handled file extraction when
opening a maliciously crafted zip file. An attacker could possibly use this
issue to create or overwrite files on the system and execute arbitrary
code.

It was discovered that NLTK incorrectly handled file extraction when
opening a maliciously crafted zip file. An attacker could possibly use this
issue to create or overwrite files on the system and execute arbitrary
code.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
26.04 LTS resolute python3-nltk –  3.9.2-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
24.04 LTS noble python3-nltk –  3.8.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
22.04 LTS jammy python3-nltk –  3.7-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
20.04 LTS focal python3-nltk –  3.4.5-2ubuntu0.1~esm3  
18.04 LTS bionic python-nltk –  3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1+esm3  
python3-nltk –  3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1+esm3  
16.04 LTS xenial python-nltk –  3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm3  
python3-nltk –  3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm3  
14.04 LTS trusty python-nltk –  2.0~b9-0ubuntu4.1~esm5  

Reduce your security exposure

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