XSS in Nltk

CVE-2026-33230

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, `nltk.app.wordnet_app` contains a reflected cross-site scripting issue in the `lookup_...` route. A crafted `lookup_<payload>` URL can inject arbitrary HTML/JavaScript into the response page because attacker-controlled `word` data is reflected into HTML without escaping. This impacts users running the local WordNet Browser server and can lead to script execution in the browser origin of that application. Commit 1c3f799607eeb088cab2491dcf806ae83c29ad8f fixes the issue.

Vulnerability class: XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.1 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (30.8th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 31st percentile — 30.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-33230: held from 0.003 to 0.004.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.004 · change: +0.001

Affected products

  • Nltk — versions <= 3.9.3

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-33230?
CVE-2026-33230 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Nltk, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 6.1/10. Published 2026-03-20.
How severe is CVE-2026-33230?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.1 out of 10.