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CRITICAL CWE-22

CVE-2026-50548

Cursor Desktop sandbox escape via agent-controlled working directory

Cursor

9.3/ 10
CVSS 4.0
Critical severity
1.0%
EPSS exploit odds
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Higher than 64% of all CVEs
Not listed
CISA KEV catalog
No confirmed in-the-wild exploitation on CISA's list.
Timeline
Published
Jun 25, 2026
Updated
Jun 25, 2026
First covered
Jul 3, 2026
Latest story
4 months ago

Summary

Cursor is a code editor built for programming with AI. Prior to 3.0, Cursor runs agent terminal commands in a sandbox by default, and the sandbox grants write access to the command's working directory. A flaw was identified in how the agent could modify the working_directory parameter, which could cause the sandbox to include writable paths outside the intended workspace. A malicious agent could set working_directory to a sensitive location and write arbitrary files outside the workspace under the user's privileges. This enables non-sandboxed Remote Code Execution — for example by overwriting the cursorsandbox helper so later commands run unsandboxed — with no user interaction beyond a benign prompt. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.0.

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Attack profile

Attack vectorNetwork
ComplexityLow
RequirementsNone
PrivilegesNone
User interactionNone
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Affected products

  • cursor< 3.0

References

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