Description
NLTK versions before 3.10.3 contain a quadratic CPU exhaustion vulnerability in XMLCorpusView._read_xml_fragment() that rescans accumulated XML fragments on every 1 KiB block read. Attackers can provide malformed XML corpus files to cause severe CPU consumption and denial of service through affected readers like BNCCorpusReader.
Published: 2026-08-27
Score: 6.3 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

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Tracking

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Advisories

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History

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-776
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

threat_severity

Moderate


Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description NLTK versions before 3.10.3 contain a quadratic CPU exhaustion vulnerability in XMLCorpusView._read_xml_fragment() that rescans accumulated XML fragments on every 1 KiB block read. Attackers can provide malformed XML corpus files to cause severe CPU consumption and denial of service through affected readers like BNCCorpusReader.
Title NLTK before 3.10.3 Quadratic CPU Exhaustion via XMLCorpusView
First Time appeared Nltk
Nltk nltk
Weaknesses CWE-400
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:nltk:nltk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Nltk
Nltk nltk
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 3.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'}

cvssV4_0

{'score': 6.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: VulnCheck

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-31T18:12:57.437Z

Reserved: 2026-08-27T11:13:14.064Z

Link: CVE-2026-81723

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-08-31T18:12:24.670Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-27T17:21:02.957

Modified: 2026-08-31T19:17:14.590

Link: CVE-2026-81723

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2026-08-27T14:51:16Z

Links: CVE-2026-81723 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-09-01T18:15:04Z

Weaknesses