CVE-2026-49986

CVE-2026-49986 · Cortex has Untrusted Project Bootstrap Code Execution via `CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`

This page contains facts from public vulnerability sources. Check the original advisory before updating.

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.

CVSS 7.1 · High · EPSS 0.2% · Fix available

Published

2026-08-14T16:21:39.125Z

Updated

2026-08-17T19:35:51.570Z

Stack: python

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