PraisonAI Exposes Sensitive Environment Variable via Untrusted MCP Subprocess Execution

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Summary

CVECVE-2026-40159
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-04-10 17:17:13 UTC
Updated2026-04-10 17:17:13 UTC
DescriptionPraisonAI is a multi-agent teams system. Prior to 4.5.128, PraisonAI’s MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration allows spawning background servers via stdio using user-supplied command strings (e.g., MCP("npx -y @smithery/cli ...")). These commands are executed through Python’s subprocess module. By default, the implementation forwards the entire parent process environment to the spawned subprocess. As a result, any MCP command executed in this manner inherits all environment variables from the host process, including sensitive data such as API keys, authentication tokens, and database credentials. This behavior introduces a security risk when untrusted or third-party commands are used. In common scenarios where MCP tools are invoked via package runners such as npx -y, arbitrary code from external or potentially compromised packages may execute with access to these inherited environment variables. This creates a risk of unintended credential exposure and enables potential supply chain attacks through silent exfiltration of secrets. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.5.128.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 5.5 MEDIUM from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Problem Types: CWE-200 | CWE-214 | CWE-200 CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor | CWE-214 CWE-214: Invocation of Process Using Visible Sensitive Information

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary5.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
3.1CNADECLARED5.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA MervinPraison PraisonAI affected < 4.5.128 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/MervinPraison/PraisonAI/security/advisories/GHSA-pj2r-f9mw-vrcq [email protected] github.com
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