What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-50548: Cursor Desktop sandbox escape via agent-controlled working directory
- Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
- Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
- EPSS: 1.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
- Public exploit or detection template: none known
- Published: 2026-06-25 · updated 2026-06-26
- Weakness: CWE-22
Description
Cursor is a code editor built for programming with AI. Prior to 3.0, Cursor runs agent terminal commands in a sandbox by default, and the sandbox grants write access to the command's working directory. A flaw was identified in how the agent could modify the working_directory parameter, which could cause the sandbox to include writable paths outside the intended workspace. A malicious agent could set working_directory to a sensitive location and 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.
Affected products
- cursor: before 3.0 — fixed in 3.0
How to fix
Upgrade to a fixed version: cursor 3.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.
References
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