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Cognee EUVDEUVD-2026-42095

| CVE-2026-58473 CRITICAL
Missing Authorization (CWE-862)
2026-07-07 VulnCheck GHSA-49f7-whx5-4256
9.3
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: VulnCheck
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Reach exposed Cognee API
  2. Delivery
    Self-register normal account
  3. Exploit
    POST to /api/v1/settings with attacker LLM endpoint
  4. Execution
    Global singleton config overwritten
  5. Persist
    All users' LLM traffic redirected
  6. Impact
    Exfiltrate prompts, documents, and knowledge graph

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization checks on every request
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

The attacker must be able to reach the Cognee API over the network and create an account via self-registration (the description explicitly says 'self-registering an account'), then call the settings endpoint that performs no admin/superuser check. No user interaction and no pre-existing privileged credentials are required (CVSS PR:N/UI:N), and the process-wide singleton configuration cache means a single successful write affects all users instance-wide. The primary limiting factor is deployment configuration: instances that disable open self-registration, place the settings endpoint behind an authenticated admin-only proxy, or are not network-exposed are substantially harder to exploit. Affected versions are all releases before 1.2.0.

Impact

All signals align toward high real-world priority. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N) describes network-reachable, low-complexity, unauthenticated exploitation with no user interaction, and VC:H/VI:H captures the high confidentiality and integrity impact of redirecting and reading all LLM traffic; VA:N and subsequent-system metrics N are consistent with data theft/tampering rather than availability loss. The 9.3 (Critical) base score is corroborated by publicly available exploit code and a credible reporter (VulnCheck). No EPSS score or SSVC decision was provided in the input, so probabilistic exploitation likelihood cannot be quantified here, and the CVE is not listed in CISA KEV in the provided data - meaning this is 'publicly available exploit code exists' but NOT confirmed active exploitation. One nuance worth verifying: exploitation requires the ability to self-register an account, so instances that disable open registration materially reduce exposure even though CVSS scores it PR:N (self-registration is treated as no meaningful privilege barrier).

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker reaches a publicly exposed Cognee instance, uses the open self-registration flow to create an ordinary account, then calls the settings endpoint to point the global LLM provider base URL at a server they control. From that moment every user's prompts, uploaded documents, and generated knowledge-graph content are routed through the attacker's endpoint and silently captured. Publicly available exploit code lowers the skill required, and the low attack complexity means the whole chain can be scripted.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: CRITICAL severity + public POC available.
Patch available 0.4% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Jul 07, 2026

Instance-wide LLM configuration hijacking in Cognee before 1.2.0 lets any remote attacker self-register a normal account and overwrite the global LLM provider settings through the /api/v1/settings endpoint, which performs no admin or superuser authorization check. Because the configuration is held in a process-wide singleton cache, a single call redirects every user's LLM operations to an attacker-controlled endpoint, exfiltrating prompts, uploaded documents, extracted entities, and knowledge-graph content. This is confirmed publicly available exploit code exists (reported by VulnCheck, with a released vendor patch in v1.2.0), and the CVSS 4.0 score is 9.3 (Critical).

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: upgrade Cognee to v1.2.0 or later (https://github.com/topoteretes/cognee/releases/tag/v1.2.0); the fix is in commit d10b1b77e2157c6238fd4d1acb1923a048991699, which adds the missing admin/superuser authorization check to the settings endpoint. If you cannot upgrade immediately, disable open/self-registration so unauthenticated users cannot obtain an account to reach the endpoint (trade-off: breaks any legitimate self-service onboarding), and restrict network access to the /api/v1/settings endpoint via a reverse proxy or WAF rule allowing only trusted admin IPs (trade-off: requires that admins still be able to reach it for legitimate configuration). Additionally, pin and monitor the configured LLM provider base URL/endpoint and alert on unexpected changes so a hijack is detected quickly. Review the advisory at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/cognee-unauthorized-llm-configuration-overwrite-via-api-v1-settings for details.

Affected VersionsENISA

cognee 0 <1.2.0

Affected Packages

pypi cognee fix: 1.2.0, 1.5.0

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in pypi

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

Cognee is an open-source AI memory/knowledge-graph framework (vendor topoteretes) that ingests documents and builds knowledge graphs by delegating operations to an external LLM provider. The affected component is the settings management API (per the VulnCheck advisory, api/v1/settings), which mutates the provider/base-URL/model/key configuration used by all LLM calls. The root cause is CWE-862 (Missing Authorization): the endpoint updates a sensitive, global setting without verifying the caller is an admin or superuser. The impact is amplified by an architectural choice - the LLM configuration is stored in a process-wide singleton cache shared across all sessions and users - so one write by a low-privilege self-registered account changes behavior for the entire instance rather than just the attacker's own scope.

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Severity by source

Vendor (VulnCheck) PRIMARY 9.3 CRITICAL
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
vuln.today AI 10.0 CRITICAL

Unauthenticated network access via self-registration justifies PR:N/AV:N/AC:L; overwriting a shared singolo config to hijack all users' data is a scope change (S:C) with high C and I but no availability impact.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).

CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Vulnerable system: Confidentiality
High
Vulnerable system: Integrity
High
Vulnerable system: Availability
None
Subsequent system: Confidentiality
None
Subsequent system: Integrity
None
Subsequent system: Availability
None

DescriptionCVE.org

Cognee before 1.2.0 contains an improper access control vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to overwrite the global LLM provider configuration by self-registering an account and calling the settings endpoint, which performs no admin or superuser check. Attackers can redirect all LLM operations instance-wide to an attacker-controlled endpoint by exploiting the process-wide singleton configuration cache, enabling exfiltration of prompts, uploaded documents, extracted entities, and knowledge graph content from all users.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Cognee instances before version 1.2.0 contain a critical configuration hijacking vulnerability that allows any remote attacker to globally redirect all users' LLM operations to an attacker-controlled server, exfiltrating sensitive prompts, documents, and knowledge-graph data. Publicly available exploit code exists for this vulnerability, and a single unauthorized API call affects every user on the affected instance. Organizations using Cognee must immediately identify, patch, and audit for potential data compromise.

Business Impact: Severe
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict API access to /api/v1/settings endpoint to admin-only credentials and disable public account self-registration until patch deployment.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.4%
Top 71% exploitable
Prevalence
Low
niche open-source AI memory framework, limited production deployment footprint
Threat Intel
1
1 sources
Exploit
POC
Public exploit code exists
Social Media
2
Sightings
Data Quality
7 sources
Confidence: High
EUVD NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment GHSA CIRCL GitHub VulDB

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity CRITICAL
CISA KEV No
Public POC Yes
EPSS 0.4%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
CRITICAL severity + public POC available
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Out-of-Cycle
Exploitation
Poc
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
Yes
Human Impact
Very High
Technical Impact
Total

Priority Score

66
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +46
PoC: +20
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.

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