Path Traversal in Vibe-Trading Agent

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-58171 is a path traversal vulnerability in Vibe-Trading versions before 0.1.10. The issue occurs in the run_dir function where a user-supplied run identifier is concatenated with the base runs directory without proper validation. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious run identifier that can cause the application to read or overwrite arbitrary run.json files outside the intended runs directory.

Specifically, an attacker with access to the MCP swarm tools can supply run identifiers containing path traversal sequences (like "../") to access or modify files outside the designated directory, potentially affecting files that should be protected.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can impact you by allowing an attacker with MCP tool access to read or overwrite arbitrary run.json files outside the intended runs directory.

• Unauthorized reading of sensitive run state or task data stored in run.json files.
• Overwriting existing run.json files, which can lead to unauthorized modification of tasks, events, or run states.
• Potential integrity and availability impacts due to unauthorized file modifications.

However, the vulnerability requires access to MCP swarm tools and has a low to medium severity depending on the scoring system.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability involves path traversal via the MCP swarm run identifier, allowing reading or overwriting of arbitrary run.json files outside the intended directory.

To detect exploitation attempts, monitor logs or MCP swarm tool inputs for suspicious run identifiers containing path traversal patterns such as "../", absolute paths, or multiple path components.

You can search for such suspicious run identifiers by inspecting application logs or monitoring filesystem access patterns.

• Use grep or similar tools to find run IDs with traversal sequences in logs, e.g., `grep -E '\.\./|/|\\' /path/to/vibe-trading/logs`
• Check for unexpected modifications or access to run.json files outside the `.swarm/runs` directory using commands like `find /path/to/.swarm -name run.json -exec stat {} \;` to identify unusual timestamps or locations.
• Monitor MCP swarm tool usage for errors or JSON error responses indicating rejected invalid run IDs, which may signal attempted exploitation.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Mitigation Strategies

The primary mitigation is to upgrade Vibe-Trading to version 0.1.10 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed by validating run identifiers to prevent path traversal.

If upgrading immediately is not possible, restrict access to MCP swarm tools to trusted users only, as exploitation requires MCP access.

Implement monitoring to detect and block run identifiers containing path traversal sequences or invalid formats.

Review and restrict filesystem permissions on the `.swarm/runs` directory and surrounding directories to limit unauthorized file modifications.

Apply any available patches or backported fixes that enforce strict validation of run IDs as opaque identifiers, rejecting path-shaped inputs.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0