{"id":"CVE-2026-49986","title":"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 director…","summary":"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 director…","severity":"high","cwe":["CWE-829"],"vendor":"neuro-cortex-memory","product":"neuro-cortex-memory","affected":["neuro-cortex-memory <= 3.17.0"],"patched":["neuro-cortex-memory 3.18.0"],"published":"2026-08-14","updated":"2026-09-18","sourceUpdated":"2026-09-18T20:09:01.757","source":"NVD","sourceUrl":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-49986","references":[{"url":"https://github.com/cdeust/Cortex/releases/tag/v3.17.1","label":"security-advisories@github.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/cdeust/Cortex/security/advisories/GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g","label":"security-advisories@github.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/neuro-cortex-memory/PYSEC-2026-2676.yaml","label":"security-advisories@github.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/cdeust/Cortex/security/advisories/GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g","label":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g"}],"tags":["nvd","ghsa","pip"],"epss":0.0017,"epssPercentile":0.06697,"ecosystem":"pip","ingestedAt":"2026-07-01T19:15:59.916Z","slug":"CVE-2026-49986","body":"## Overview\n\nThe 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.\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.\n\n## Package advisory (CVE-2026-49986)\n\nAffected packages:\n\n- `neuro-cortex-memory <= 3.17.0`\n\nPatched in:\n\n- `neuro-cortex-memory 3.18.0`\n\nSource: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g","depth":"twilight","depthScore":41,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":41.3,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}