Code Execution Vulnerability in Cortex MCP Server by Neuro Cortex Memory

CVE-2026-49986

What is CVE-2026-49986?

The Cortex MCP server, developed by Neuro Cortex, prior to version 3.17.1, suffers from a vulnerability that allows arbitrary code execution through improper validation of the CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR environment variable. This variable is automatically set by the Claude Code, indicating the currently open project directory. When the open_visualization tool is invoked, the function _find_dev_source() identifies the user's active project directory as a potential Cortex source root. The validation process, conducted by _is_cortex_root(), is insufficient as it only checks for an mcp_server/ subdirectory and a ui/unified-viz.html file. If an attacker places these two markers in a malicious repository, they can exploit the vulnerability to execute arbitrary code from mcp_server/server/visualize_bootstrap.py with the permissions of the local user running the affected application. Version 3.17.1 resolves this issue, ensuring enhanced security against such exploitations.

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