{"id":"UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81724","details":"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.","modified":"2026-09-02T16:28:28Z","published":"2026-08-27T17:21:00Z","upstream":["CVE-2026-81724"],"references":[{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-81724"},{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-81724"},{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-cw6x-m8jw-qmrh"},{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-3.10.3-denial-of-service-via-uncontrolled-recursion"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"nltk","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/nltk?arch=source&distro=esm-infra-legacy%2Ftrusty"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["2.0~b9-0ubuntu4","2.0~b9-0ubuntu4.1~esm2","2.0~b9-0ubuntu4.1~esm4","2.0~b9-0ubuntu4.1~esm5","2.0~b9-0ubuntu4.1~esm6"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_name":"python-nltk","binary_version":"2.0~b9-0ubuntu4.1~esm6"}]},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2026/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81724.json"}},{"package":{"name":"nltk","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/nltk?arch=source&distro=esm-apps-legacy%2Fxenial"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["3.0.4-1","3.0.5-1","3.1-1","3.1-1ubuntu0.1","3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm1","3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm2","3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm3","3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm4"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_name":"python-nltk","binary_version":"3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm4"},{"binary_name":"python3-nltk","binary_version":"3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm4"}]},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2026/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81724.json"}},{"package":{"name":"nltk","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/nltk?arch=source&distro=esm-apps%2Fbionic"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["3.2.4-1","3.2.5-1","3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1","3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1+esm1","3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1+esm2","3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1+esm3","3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1+esm4"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_name":"python-nltk","binary_version":"3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1+esm4"},{"binary_name":"python3-nltk","binary_version":"3.2.5-1ubuntu0.1+esm4"}]},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2026/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81724.json"}},{"package":{"name":"nltk","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/nltk?arch=source&distro=esm-apps%2Ffocal"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["3.4.5-1","3.4.5-2","3.4.5-2ubuntu0.1~esm1","3.4.5-2ubuntu0.1~esm2","3.4.5-2ubuntu0.1~esm3","3.4.5-2ubuntu0.1~esm4"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_name":"python3-nltk","binary_version":"3.4.5-2ubuntu0.1~esm4"}]},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2026/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81724.json"}},{"package":{"name":"nltk","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:22.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/nltk?arch=source&distro=esm-apps%2Fjammy"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["3.5-1","3.6.5-1","3.6.7-1","3.7-1","3.7-1ubuntu0.1~esm1","3.7-1ubuntu0.1~esm2"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_name":"python3-nltk","binary_version":"3.7-1ubuntu0.1~esm2"}]},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2026/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81724.json"}},{"package":{"name":"nltk","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:24.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/nltk?arch=source&distro=esm-apps%2Fnoble"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["3.8.1-1","3.8.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm1","3.8.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm2"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_name":"python3-nltk","binary_version":"3.8.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm2"}]},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2026/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81724.json"}},{"package":{"name":"nltk","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:26.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/nltk?arch=source&distro=esm-apps%2Fresolute"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["3.9.1-2","3.9.1-2build1","3.9.2-1","3.9.2-1ubuntu0.1~esm1","3.9.2-1ubuntu0.1~esm2"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_version":"3.9.2-1ubuntu0.1~esm2","binary_name":"python3-nltk"}]},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2026/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81724.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L"},{"type":"CVSS_V4","score":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"},{"type":"Ubuntu","score":"medium"}]}