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CVE-2026-49986

HighCVSS 7.1 / 10
Published Aug 14, 2026·Last modified Aug 16, 2026
Affected Components(15)
cdeust/cortex
2.4.1
cdeust/cortex
3.14.9
cdeust/cortex
3.14.11
1 / 5
Description

The Cortex MCP server (neuro-cortex-memory), a cross-platform persistent memory MCP, prior to version 3.17.1 treats the CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR environment variable — automatically set by Claude Code to the currently open project directory — as a trusted Cortex developer checkout. When the open_visualization tool is invoked, _find_dev_source() resolves the user's active project directory as a candidate Cortex source root. The only validation performed by _is_cortex_root() is a check for the presence of an mcp_server/ subdirectory and a ui/unified-viz.html file. An attacker who places these two marker files in a malicious repository can cause Cortex to execute an arbitrary mcp_server/server/visualize_bootstrap.py from that directory via subprocess.run([sys.executable, ...]), achieving code execution with the privileges of the victim's local user process. Version 3.17.1 fixes the issue.

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Risk Scores
Base Score
7.1

The vulnerability requires local access to the device to be exploited. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker needs basic access or low-level privileges. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability.

Threat Intelligence
5.9

Exploitation attempts have been detected. Elevated vigilance and prompt remediation are advised.

EPSS
0.17%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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