CVE-2026-55557
Received Received - Intake

Path Traversal in browse-mcp MCP Server

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-55557, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-08-25

Last updated on: 2026-08-25

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description

browse-mcp is a Playwright-based headless-browser MCP server for MCP-capable agents. Prior to 0.8.2, browser_download writes a fetched response body to join(save_dir, filename) without validating the caller-controlled save_dir, while browser_save_state and browser_load_state honor a caller-controlled path unchanged. A malicious MCP client, or an autonomous agent steered by indirect prompt injection on a visited page, can choose an arbitrary save_dir or state path and a URL whose response body becomes attacker-controlled file contents, allowing writes to any path the process can reach, including ~/.bashrc, autostart entries, or cron files, and potentially leading to host code execution. The force_fetch fallback also uses a raw fetch() that bypasses the BROWSE_MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS origin fence. This issue is fixed in version 0.8.2.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-25
Last Modified
2026-08-25
Generated
2026-08-25
AI Q&A
2026-08-25
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
that1drifter browse_mcp to 0.8.2 (exc)
that1drifter browse_mcp 0.8.2

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-22 The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability in browse-mcp (versions <= 0.8.1) is a path traversal flaw where functions like browser_download, browser_save_state, and browser_load_state do not validate caller-controlled paths. Attackers can write arbitrary files to any system location by manipulating save_dir or state path parameters, potentially leading to code execution.

Detection Guidance

Check if browse-mcp is installed and verify its version. Run 'npm list -g browse-mcp' or 'npm list browse-mcp' to check the installed version. If the version is <= 0.8.1, the system is vulnerable.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could overwrite critical files like ~/.bashrc, autostart entries, or cron files with malicious content, enabling host code execution. This could allow privilege escalation or system compromise if the process runs with sufficient permissions.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade browse-mcp to version 0.8.2 or later using 'npm install -g browse-mcp@latest'. Alternatively, restrict exposed tools via the BROWSE_MCP_TOOLS environment variable as a temporary measure.

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