CVE-2026-126299: NLTK: Quadratic-time CPU denial of service in CCG lexicon parser (fromstring) on wide bracket bodies and operator chains
The public CCG lexicon parser nltk.ccg.lexicon.fromstring parses caller-influenced lexicon text with two pure-Python loops whose cost is quadratic in the input width. A service that parses an untrusted CCG lexicon string can be driven into tens of seconds of single-threaded CPU by a few-megabyte input, starving the request worker. No authentication or user interaction is required.
References
- github.com/advisories/GHSA-89p3-fcch-88ph
- github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/0bb5b947bd235b950cf2f90e893a498e16da0fe3
- github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/cf12a5e6a
- github.com/nltk/nltk/pull/3944
- github.com/nltk/nltk/releases/tag/v3.10.4
- github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-89p3-fcch-88ph
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-126299
- www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-3.10.4-quadratic-time-denial-of-service-via-ccg-lexicon-fromstring
Code Behaviors & Features
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