CVE-2025-14009 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2025-14009
Vulnerability Scoring

10.0
/10
Critical Risk

As a catastrophic security flaw, CVE-2025-14009 has severe implications, demanding immediate intervention.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Network
    Vulnerability is exploitable over a network without physical access.
  • Privileges Required: None
    No privileges are required for exploitation.
  • Scope: Changed
    Successful exploitation can impact components beyond the vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2025-14009 Details

Status: Received on 18 Feb 2026, 18:24 UTC

Published on: 18 Feb 2026, 18:24 UTC

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

security@huntr.dev

CVSS3 Type

Secondary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2025-14009 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2025-14009: A critical vulnerability exists in the NLTK downloader component of nltk/nltk, affecting all versions. The _unzip_iter function in nltk/downloader.py uses zipfile.extractall() without performing path validation or security checks. This allows attackers to craft malicious zip packages that, when downloaded and extracted by NLTK, can execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability arises because NLTK assumes all downloaded packages are trusted and extracts them without validation. If a malicious package contains Python files, such as __init__.py, these files are executed automatically upon import, leading to remote code execution. This issue can result in full system compromise, including file system access, network access, and potential persistence mechanisms.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2025-14009

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2025-14009 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2025-14009

With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2025-14009 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-14009, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-14009, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: High
    Exploiting CVE-2025-14009 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
  • Integrity: High
    CVE-2025-14009 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
  • Availability: High
    CVE-2025-14009 can disrupt system operations, potentially causing complete denial of service (DoS).

CVE-2025-14009 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-94

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Code Injection CAPEC-242 An adversary exploits a weakness in input validation on the target to inject new code into that which is currently executing. This differs from code inclusion in that code inclusion involves the addition or replacement of a reference to a code file, which is subsequently loaded by the target and used as part of the code of some application.
  • Leverage Executable Code in Non-Executable Files CAPEC-35 An attack of this type exploits a system's trust in configuration and resource files. When the executable loads the resource (such as an image file or configuration file) the attacker has modified the file to either execute malicious code directly or manipulate the target process (e.g. application server) to execute based on the malicious configuration parameters. Since systems are increasingly interrelated mashing up resources from local and remote sources the possibility of this attack occurring is high.
  • Manipulating User-Controlled Variables CAPEC-77 This attack targets user controlled variables (DEBUG=1, PHP Globals, and So Forth). An adversary can override variables leveraging user-supplied, untrusted query variables directly used on the application server without any data sanitization. In extreme cases, the adversary can change variables controlling the business logic of the application. For instance, in languages like PHP, a number of poorly set default configurations may allow the user to override variables.

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