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.
| Métrique | Valeur | Interprétation |
|---|---|---|
|
AV (Vecteur d'Attaque)
Attack Vector
|
Local (L)
|
Exploit nécessite un accès local au système |
|
AC (Complexité d'Attaque)
Attack Complexity
|
Low (L)
|
Peu de conditions requises pour exploiter |
|
PR (Privilèges Requis)
Privileges Required
|
Low (L)
|
Authentifié avec compte utilisateur basique |
|
UI (Interaction Utilisateur)
User Interaction
|
None (N)
|
Aucune interaction utilisateur nécessaire |
|
S (Périmètre)
Scope
|
Unchanged (U)
|
Impact reste dans le périmètre du composant compromis |
|
C (Impact Confidentialité)
Confidentiality Impact
|
High (H)
|
Divulgation totale d'informations |
|
I (Impact Intégrité)
Integrity Impact
|
High (H)
|
Modification totale des données possible |
|
A (Impact Disponibilité)
Availability Impact
|
High (H)
|
Interruption totale du service possible |
Cortex has Untrusted Project Bootstrap Code Execution via `CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`
Cortex has Untrusted Project Bootstrap Code Execution via `CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`