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TI-2026-28974 Aliases CVE-2026-40159GHSA-pj2r-f9mw-vrcq

PraisonAI Exposes Sensitive Environment Variable via Untrusted MCP Subprocess Execution

Priority MEDIUM 58CWE-200Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Information disclosure
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · None · None
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-200.

Summary

PraisonAI 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.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00185 8th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed PraisonAI (MervinPraison): 4.5.128PraisonAI (PyPI): 4.5.128

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
MervinPraisonPraisonAIbefore 4.5.1284.5.128Patch availableCNA
—PraisonAI (PyPI)before 4.5.1284.5.128Patch availableGHSA-pj2r-f9mw-vrcq
  • PraisonAI VendorMervinPraison Affected before 4.5.128 Fixed in 4.5.128 Patch available CNA
  • PraisonAI (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 4.5.128 Fixed in 4.5.128 Patch available GHSA-pj2r-f9mw-vrcq

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:praison:praisonai:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*before 4.5.128VulnerableMervinPraison
  • cpe:2.3:a:praison:praisonai:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 4.5.128 Vulnerable ·MervinPraison

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA PraisonAI (MervinPraison) Fixed in 4.5.128
  • Fix · GHSA-pj2r-f9mw-vrcq PraisonAI (PyPI) Fixed in 4.5.128 Advisory →

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-40159
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-pj2r-f9mw-vrcq

References

  • TI-2026-30083 Incomplete fix for CVE-2026-34935: Command Injection in MervinPraison/PraisonAI CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-29070 PraisonAI: Critical RCE via `type: job` workflow YAML CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-28940 PraisonAI has Server-Side Request Forgery via Unvalidated webhook_url in Jobs API CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
  • TI-2026-28768 PraisonAI Affected by Remote Code Execution via YAML Deserialization in Agent Definition Loading CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-27159 PraisonAI: OS Command Injection in MCPHandler.parse_mcp_command() CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-27158 PraisonAI: Second-Order SQL Injection in `get_all_user_threads` CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
See all 42 →

Sources