CVE-2026-39421: MaxKB: Sandbox escape via ctypes and unhooked SYS_pkey_mprotect

Severity: high (CVSS 7.4 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-04-14 · updated 2026-10-26
Weakness: CWE-94

Description

MaxKB is an open-source AI assistant for enterprise. Versions 2.7.1 and below contain a sandbox escape vulnerability in the ToolExecutor component. By leveraging Python's ctypes library to execute raw system calls, an authenticated attacker with workspace privileges can bypass the LD_PRELOAD-based sandbox.so module to achieve arbitrary code execution via direct kernel system calls, enabling full network exfiltration and container compromise. The library intercepts critical standard system functions such as execve, system, connect, and open. It also intercepts mprotect to prevent PROT_EXEC (executable memory) allocations within the sandboxed Python processes, but pkey_mprotect is not blocked. This issue has been fixed in version 2.8.0.

Affected products

1Panel-dev MaxKB: before 2.8.0 — fixed in 2.8.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: 1Panel-dev MaxKB 2.8.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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