CVE-2026-78680

HIGHPre-NVD 7.87.8—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-25. a secondary CVSS source baseline 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Elevated
7.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: Elevated riskExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

NLTK versions before 3.10.3 fail to use validated absolute paths when invoking the Graphviz dot binary in dependencygraph.dot2img and AlignedSent._repr_svg_, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious dot binary in the search path or current working directory. Attackers can exploit bare-name binary resolution on Windows via the current working directory or on Unix-like systems via relative PATH entries to execute their binary instead of the legitimate Graphviz tool.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8(high)
EG Risk
51(Track*)
EG Risk 51/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity78% × 45%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
2%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 25, 2026

Last Modified

August 25, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Aug 25, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github.
generic

NLTK before 3.10.3 Arbitrary Code Execution via Graphviz dot Binary | Advisories | VulnCheck

https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nltk-before-arbitrary-code-execution-via-graphviz-dot-binary
github Patch Available

Uncontrolled search path when invoking the Graphviz 'dot' binary (CWE-426/CWE-427) · Advisory · nltk/nltk · GitHub

https://github.com/nltk/nltk/security/advisories/GHSA-6hwm-xvph-95vm

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-78680(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Affected Packages

(4 across 4 ecosystems)
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
nltk3.10.0-1 ... 3.9.3-1 (9 versions)——
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
nltk3.10.0-1 ... 3.9.3-1 (6 versions)——
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
nltk3.10.0-1, 3.10.1-1, 3.9.1-2, 3.9.2-1, 3.9.3-13.10.3-1—
PyPI(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
nltk0.8 ... 3.9b1 (68 versions)3.10.3—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 10× in last 7d / 62× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-09-19 04:39 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-16 15:56 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-09-16 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-09-15 03:32 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-09-15 03:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-09-15 03:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-14 03:12 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-09-13 02:56 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-09-12 02:40 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-09-11 14:30 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-09-10 14:14 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-09-09 01:19 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-09-08 22:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-09-07 17:07 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-09-06 16:52 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-09-06 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-09-04 16:21 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-09-04 05:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-09-02 15:44 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-09-02 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-09-01 15:21 UTCEG score recompute
Show 37 more
  1. 2026-09-01 15:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-09-01 13:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-01 04:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-01 04:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-01 03:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-31 15:04 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-08-31 02:54 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-08-31 02:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-30 19:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-30 14:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-30 02:38 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-08-30 02:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-29 14:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-29 02:22 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-08-29 02:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-08-28 21:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-28 14:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-28 02:02 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-08-28 02:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-08-27 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-27 13:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-08-27 01:45 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-08-27 01:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-08-26 14:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-08-26 13:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-08-26 01:30 UTCEG score recompute
  29. 2026-08-26 01:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-08-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-08-25 13:22 UTCEG score recompute
  32. 2026-08-25 13:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  33. 2026-08-25 12:53 UTCEG score recompute
  34. 2026-08-25 12:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-08-25 02:19 UTCEG score recompute
  36. 2026-08-25 01:50 UTCEG score recompute
  37. 2026-08-25 01:50 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-78680?
CVE-2026-78680 is a high vulnerability published on August 25, 2026. NLTK versions before 3.10.3 fail to use validated absolute paths when invoking the Graphviz dot binary in dependencygraph.dot2img and AlignedSent.reprsvg_, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious dot binary in the search path or current working directory. Attackers can…
When was CVE-2026-78680 disclosed?
CVE-2026-78680 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 25, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-78680 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-78680 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 97.9% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-78680?
CVE-2026-78680 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-78680?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-78680, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2026-78680

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