{"id":"CVE-2026-49986","summary":"Cortex has Untrusted Project Bootstrap Code Execution via `CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`","details":"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.","aliases":["GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g","PYSEC-2026-2676"],"modified":"2026-08-19T03:31:07.254865467Z","published":"2026-08-14T16:21:39.125Z","database_specific":{"osv_generated_from":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/49xxx/CVE-2026-49986.json","cna_assigner":"GitHub_M","cwe_ids":["CWE-829"]},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/cdeust/Cortex/releases/tag/v3.17.1"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/49xxx/CVE-2026-49986.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/cdeust/Cortex/security/advisories/GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/neuro-cortex-memory/PYSEC-2026-2676.yaml"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-49986"}],"affected":[{"ranges":[{"type":"GIT","repo":"https://github.com/cdeust/cortex","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"5d22091a25f0d6817cce61f0cffe1db81a463284"}],"database_specific":{"extracted_events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"3.17.1"}],"source":["AFFECTED_FIELD","REFERENCES"]}}],"versions":["v3.16.0","v3.15.3","v3.15.2","v3.15.1","v3.15.0","v3.14.12","v3.14.11","v3.14.10","v3.14.9","v3.14.8","v3.14.7","v3.14.6","v2.4.1","v2.3.0","v2.1.0"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-49986.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V4","score":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P"}]}