Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessObtain read-restricted session credential
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DeliverySend code.replace request targeting .knowns/ permission registry file
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ExploitAuthorization guard misclassifies mutation as read-only, allows write
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ExecutionPermission registry overwritten with attacker-controlled privilege grants
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ImpactSubsequent API calls execute with full administrative privileges
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization logic validation
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 | Exploitation requires a valid knowns session credential with at minimum read-restricted access (CVSS PR:L confirmed). The attacker must reach the MCP server over the network (CVSS AV:N). The vulnerable code path activates when any of the code mutation handlers ( |
| Impact | The CVSS 4.0 score of 7.2 (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H) accurately reflects the core risk: network-exploitable, no special conditions, requiring only a low-privilege session, with high integrity and availability impact. The PR:L constraint limits exposure to users who already hold at least a read-only session token, meaning unauthenticated internet-facing exploitation is not possible. No public exploit code has been identified and the vulnerability does not appear in CISA KEV, though the publicly available commit diff provides sufficient technical detail for a motivated researcher to reconstruct the attack path quickly. The integrity impact is well-founded - overwriting the |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker with a read-restricted knowns session crafts a |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 07, 2026
Authorization bypass in knowns before v0.30.0 allows low-privileged users holding read-restricted sessions to escalate privileges by exploiting the permission guard's misclassification of code mutation operations as read-only. Specifically, the code.replace, code.rename, code.insert, and code.delete MCP handlers failed to enforce write-access checks, enabling a low-privilege session to overwrite .knowns/ permission configuration files and elevate to administrative access on subsequent calls. No public exploit has been identified at the time of analysis; a vendor-confirmed patch is available as v0.30.0.
RemediationAI
Upgrade to knowns v0.30.0 or later, which resolves the authorization bypass by introducing ensureCodeMutationPath() validation across all code mutation handlers and adding symlink-aware safe path resolution via the safepath package. The fix is available at https://github.com/knowns-dev/knowns/releases/tag/v0.30.0 and the patching commit is a2c98fc5c313463576c9348beeec6a74ddd7333b. If an immediate upgrade is not feasible, the only effective compensating control is to restrict knowns session credentials exclusively to fully trusted users, since the attack specifically exploits the read-only session path to perform writes - there is no documented configuration toggle that blocks this without removing untrusted session access entirely. Note that this workaround eliminates the multi-user read-only access model entirely, which may not be acceptable in collaborative development environments.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
knowns (cpe:2.3:a:knowns-dev:knowns:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*) is a Go-based developer tooling project that exposes code manipulation capabilities through an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. The permission system uses a registry (internal/permissions/registry.go) and a guard (internal/permissions/guard.go) to enforce session-level access control. The root cause is CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization): the permission guard misclassified write-capable code operations as read-only, bypassing mutation enforcement. The patch in v0.30.0 introduces ensureCodeMutationPath() in internal/mcp/handlers/code.go, which validates that code mutations cannot resolve into .knowns/ or .git/ managed directories, and adds the safepath package for safe path resolution including symlink-traversal protection. The commit diff (a2c98fc) also adds path-traversal checks via safepath.ResolveProject to prevent directory escape attacks in combination with the authorization flaw.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Network-reachable MCP server, no special conditions, low-privilege session required; integrity and availability both high due to permission registry overwrite enabling full privilege escalation.
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
DescriptionCVE.org
knowns versions before 0.30.0 contain an authorization bypass vulnerability where mutating code actions are incorrectly classified as read-only operations. Attackers with read-restricted sessions can exploit code.replace to modify permission configurations and escalate privileges on subsequent calls.
Technical POC Analysis
Authorization bypass caused by a fail-open capability classification (CWE-863; advisory also identifies CWE-693).
Full technical POC analysis - root cause, step-by-step exploitation and patch breakdown - is part of the Pro and Business plans.
Executive ViewAI
knowns versions prior to 0.30.0 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability allowing read-only users to gain full administrative access and system control. Organizations using vulnerable versions face the risk of unauthorized administrative takeover, potentially enabling data compromise and system manipulation. A vendor-released patch is available and should be deployed immediately.
Apply vendor patch.
Threat Intelligence Overview
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.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Missing authentication in Knowns (knowns-dev/knowns) before 0.30.0 exposes the management API on all network interfaces
External control of a filesystem path in Knowns (knowns-dev/knowns) before 0.31.0 lets remote attackers escape the proje
Path traversal in the knowns npm documentation tool (versions ≤ 0.29.1) enables remote unauthenticated attackers to read
Path traversal in knowns before v0.30.0 permits unauthenticated remote attackers to write files outside the designated i
Path traversal in knowns (a Go-based MCP-integrated knowledge management server) before version 0.30.0 allows authentica
Path traversal in the knowns template-preview API (versions before 0.30.0) allows unauthenticated remote attackers to re
Privilege escalation in knowns through 0.33.0 permits authenticated read-only agent sessions to bypass authorization con
Path traversal in the knowns code generation template engine (versions through 0.33.0) allows unauthenticated remote att
Arbitrary binary execution in knowns before 0.30.0 is triggered when a developer opens a repository containing a crafted
Path traversal in the knowns MCP server's handleCodeReplace() function allows unauthenticated network attackers to overw
Path traversal in knowns through version 0.33.0 allows authenticated AI agent sessions to read arbitrary files anywhere
Server-side request forgery in Knowns ≤0.33.0 enables unauthenticated remote attackers to make the server issue outbound
EUVD-2026-72562
GHSA-q52j-357p-5pv8
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB