---
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: 0.0016
epssPercentile: 0.04356
ecosystem: pip
ingestedAt: '2026-07-01T19:15:59.916Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Package advisory (CVE-2026-49986)

Affected packages:

- `neuro-cortex-memory <= 3.17.0`

Patched in:

- `neuro-cortex-memory 3.18.0`

Source: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g