Description
NLTK before 3.10.0 (affected versions <= 3.9.4) contains a server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the validate_network_url() function in nltk/pathsec.py. The _resolve_hostname() helper catches OSError and ValueError during socket.getaddrinfo() and returns an empty list; when DNS resolution fails, the validation loop executes no IP checks and the function fails open, allowing urlopen() to proceed without validation. An attacker who can trigger DNS resolution failures or use DNS rebinding can bypass SSRF protections and reach restricted network resources, including cloud metadata endpoints (e.g., 169.254.169.254).
Affected products
nltk: nltk
References2
- github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-3gqm-fcw5-w839 ExploitMitigationVendor Advisory
- www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-ssrf-via-dns-resolutio… Third Party Advisory
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
5.3
MEDIUM
Score source: CNA
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N - CVSS 4.0
-
6.9
MEDIUM
Score source: CNA
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/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 - EPSS — exploit probability
- 0% percentile: 27 · as of 9 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-918
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