CVE-2026-80205Public exploitHinoki check available

Denial of service via unbounded token regex backtracking

Published Aug 26, 2026 · Updated Aug 26, 2026

Regular expression denial of service in NLTK before 3.10.0 allows attackers to saturate a Python process via crafted token searches. Text.findall() delegates to TokenSearcher.findall(), which rewrites the token query and applies re.findall() across a joined corpus without bounding repeated rescans or backtracking. Reachability requires an application to pass attacker-controlled corpus content or token-search expressions; exploitation pins a worker and interrupts service for that process.

CVSS severityUnavailable
Unscored
EPSS probability0.49%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkAvailable
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Summary

What happened

Regular expression denial of service in NLTK before 3.10.0 allows attackers to saturate a Python process via crafted token searches. Text.findall() delegates to TokenSearcher.findall(), which rewrites the token query and applies re.findall() across a joined corpus without bounding repeated rescans or backtracking. Reachability requires an application to pass attacker-controlled corpus content or token-search expressions; exploitation pins a worker and interrupts service for that process.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-80205
Published
Aug 26, 2026
Updated
Aug 26, 2026
Vendor
NLTK Project
Product
NLTK
Classifications
CWE-1333, T1499.004
Attack vector
Unavailable
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 26, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 26, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

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  1. Affected versionversion=0 <3.10.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorUnavailable in this record.
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

NLTK Project · NLTKversion=0 <3.10.0

Published CVSS scores

No CVSS assessment is available in this record.

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
VectorUnavailable
PrivilegesUnavailable
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-1333Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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