Is CVE-2026-33236 actively exploited?

No active exploitation of CVE-2026-33236 has been confirmed so far. Continue monitoring, as exploit status can change.

Can CVE-2026-33236 be exploited remotely?

Yes. CVE-2026-33236 is exploitable remotely over the network (CVSS attack vector: Network).

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-33236?

CVE-2026-33236 has a CVSS score of 8.1 (HIGH).

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HIGH

CVE-2026-33236

CWE-22Published: March 20, 2026· Updated: Mar 23, 2026

8.1

CVSS v3.1

EPSS:0.04%probability of exploitation in 30 daysPercentile:12.9th

Official Description

NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) is a suite of open source Python modules, data sets, and tutorials supporting research and development in Natural Language Processing. In versions 3.9.3 and prior, the NLTK downloader does not validate the `subdir` and `id` attributes when processing remote XML index files. Attackers can control a remote XML index server to provide malicious values containing path traversal sequences (such as `../`), which can lead to arbitrary directory creation, arbitrary file creation, and arbitrary file overwrite. Commit 89fe2ec2c6bae6e2e7a46dad65cc34231976ed8a patches the issue.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2026-33236 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.

Exploitation does not require any privileges, though user interaction (Required) is needed, which slightly reduces the risk of mass automated attacks.

A successful exploit results in full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 8.1.