Cursor Desktop sandbox escape via symlink and failed path canonicalization

published 2026-06-25 4 mo ago modified 2026-06-26 4 mo ago also EUVD-2026-39536

cvss: 9.8; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.0%; EPSS 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 63%
public exploits: 0; none known

Cursor is a code editor built for programming with AI. Prior to 3.0, Cursor runs agent terminal commands in a sandbox by default. Before a Write, the agent canonicalizes the target path to confirm it stays inside the workspace, but when canonicalization fails it falls back to the original path and writes without approval. A malicious agent can create an in-workspace symlink that points outside the workspace and force canonicalization to fail — either because the target does not exist or because read permission is removed from the path — so the agent writes through the symlink to an arbitrary location without approval. A malicious agent could 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.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

anysphere cursor 3.0

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 4 mo ago (2026-06-25)

Exploit prediction

1.01% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 63% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	4.0	9.3	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
CNA	4.0	9.3	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/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
NVD	3.1	9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

cursor cursor

Classification

Weakness

CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

References

github.com /cursor/cursor/security/advisories/GHSA-3v8f-48vw-3mjx
vendor-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2026-50549
NVD CVE-2026-50549

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary