CVE-2021-3842 [High] | Security Vulnerability in Nltk

CVE-2021-3842 is rated High Exploit Risk (71.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.50%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.33% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

EDB-ID	Source	Kind	Published	Link
—	nvd_ref	exploit_tag		Exploit-DB ↗

EDB-ID

Source

Kind

Published

Link

—

nvd_ref

exploit_tag

Exploit-DB ↗

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.17%	1.50%	+1.33%
2	2026-05-02	0.41%	0.17%	-0.24%
3	2025-12-28	—	0.41%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.17%

1.50%

+1.33%

2026-05-02

0.41%

0.17%

-0.24%

2025-12-28

—

0.41%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.5	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	3.9	3.6	[email protected]
7.5	3.0	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	3.9	3.6	[email protected]
5.0	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:N) No confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:N) No integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	10.0	2.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.5

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

3.9

3.6

[email protected]

7.5

3.0

HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

3.9

3.6

[email protected]

5.0

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L): Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N): No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N): No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

10.0

2.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-3842

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2021-3842 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (nltk), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-3842
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2021-3842 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (nltk), 14 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, released 5, ignored 3.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-3842

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-3842

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
nltk	nltk	< 3.6.6	cpe:2.3:a:nltk:nltk::::::::
debian	debian_linux	9.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:::::::*
debian	debian_linux	10.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:::::::*
debian	debian_linux	11.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:::::::*
fedoraproject	fedora	35	cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:::::::*

References for CVE-2021-3842

URL	Tags
https://github.com/nltk/nltk/commit/2a50a3edc9d35f57ae42a921c621edc160877f4d	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://huntr.dev/bounties/761a761e-2be2-430a-8d92-6f74ffe9866a	Exploit Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2021-3842 | Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity in nltk/nltk

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2021-3842

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-3842

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-3842

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-3842

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-3842

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-3842

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-3842

References for CVE-2021-3842