CVE-2026-49986

HIGHPre-NVD 7.17.1—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This high-severity CVE scores 7.1 under a secondary CVSS source (NVD's own analysis pending). EPSS exploit probability: 0.1%, top 98% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, secondary
Elevated
7.1EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 7.1Exploit: Elevated riskExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

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 v3
7.1
EG Score
7.1(medium)
EG Risk
48(Track*)
EG Risk 48/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity71% × 45%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
2%
KEV
Not listed

Published

July 1, 2026

Last Modified

August 17, 2026

Advisory Details (3)

Auto-updated Aug 14, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: github, github_release.
generic

advisory-database/vulns/neuro-cortex-memory/PYSEC-2026-2676.yaml at main · pypa/advisory-database · GitHub

https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/neuro-cortex-memory/PYSEC-2026-2676.yaml
github_release Patch Available

v3.17.1 — Security: GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g (untrusted dev-source ACE)

Patch available: cdeust/Cortex v3.17.1

https://github.com/cdeust/Cortex/releases/tag/v3.17.1
github Patch Available🟡 PoC Available

Untrusted Project Bootstrap Code Execution via `CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR` · Advisory · cdeust/Cortex · GitHub

https://github.com/cdeust/Cortex/security/advisories/GHSA-gvpp-v77h-5w8g

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-49986(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
PyPI(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
neuro-cortex-memory2.0.0 ... 3.9.1 (36 versions)3.18.0—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 12× in last 7d / 25× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-08-25 16:17 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-08-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-24 22:59 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-08-24 10:51 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-08-23 08:02 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-08-23 00:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-22 07:00 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-08-21 23:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-21 05:07 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-08-20 22:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-20 04:38 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-18 20:57 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-08-18 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-17 20:31 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-08-17 19:50 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-16 18:18 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-08-16 06:09 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-08-16 02:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-08-14 17:44 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-08-14 16:44 UTCEG score recompute▲ 7.10
  24. 2026-08-14 16:44 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 7.1 · CVSS v4 → 7.1
  25. 2026-08-01 07:24 UTCEG score recompute
Show 3 more
  1. 2026-07-26 13:15 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-23 03:18 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-01 19:02 UTCEG score recompute

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-49986?
CVE-2026-49986 is a high vulnerability published on July 1, 2026. The Cortex MCP server (neuro-cortex-memory), a cross-platform persistent memory MCP, prior to version 3.17.1 treats the CLAUDEPROJECTDIR environment variable — automatically set by Claude Code to the currently open project directory — as a trusted Cortex developer checkout. When the…
When was CVE-2026-49986 disclosed?
CVE-2026-49986 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on July 1, 2026, with the most recent update on August 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-49986 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-49986 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 98.4% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-49986?
CVE-2026-49986 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.1 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-49986?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-49986, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2026-49986

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