{"id":"CVE-2026-109437","state":"PUBLISHED","title":"Cognition < 0.13.0 Unauthenticated RCE via Local Shell Backend","description":"Cognition before 0.13.0 contains an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability due to defaulting its agent sandbox backend to local execution and shipping no authentication on its REST/SSE API. Attackers can create a session via POST /sessions and post a message via POST /sessions/{id}/messages without credentials, causing the Deep Agents ReAct loop to run attacker-directed shell commands through the local shell backend, resulting in remote code execution as the server process.","publishedAt":"2026-10-19T18:22:57.431Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-23T13:28:30.752Z","severity":{"score":9.2,"label":"Critical","version":"4.0","vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","source":"VulnCheck"},"assigner":"VulnCheck","products":["CognicellAI Cognition"],"affected":[{"vendor":"CognicellAI","product":"Cognition","packageURL":"pkg:github/CognicellAI/Cognition","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"0","status":"affected","lessThan":"0.13.0","versionType":"semver"}],"repo":"https://github.com/CognicellAI/Cognition"}],"references":["https://www.lasso.security/vulnerability-database/cve-2026-109437","https://github.com/CognicellAI/Cognition/releases/tag/v0.13.0","https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/cognition-unauthenticated-rce-via-local-shell-backend"],"weaknesses":["CWE-1188","CWE-306"],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-29T20:10:33.477Z","source":{"repository":"CVEProject/cvelistV5","path":"cves/2026/109xxx/CVE-2026-109437.json","commit":"556c9d3a8cd17e218bb8e452ba7cd619a384ff47"},"raw":{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2026-109437","state":"PUBLISHED","datePublished":"2026-10-19T18:22:57.431Z","dateUpdated":"2026-10-23T13:28:30.752Z","assignerShortName":"VulnCheck","assignerOrgId":"83251b91-4cc7-4094-a5c7-464a1b83ea10","dateReserved":"2026-10-12T15:52:36.682Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"title":"Cognition < 0.13.0 Unauthenticated RCE via Local Shell Backend","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"Cognition before 0.13.0 contains an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability due to defaulting its agent sandbox backend to local execution and shipping no authentication on its REST/SSE API. Attackers can create a session via POST /sessions and post a message via POST /sessions/{id}/messages without credentials, causing the Deep Agents ReAct loop to run attacker-directed shell commands through the local shell backend, resulting in remote code execution as the server process."}],"affected":[{"vendor":"CognicellAI","product":"Cognition","packageURL":"pkg:github/CognicellAI/Cognition","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"0","status":"affected","lessThan":"0.13.0","versionType":"semver"}],"repo":"https://github.com/CognicellAI/Cognition"}],"references":[{"url":"https://www.lasso.security/vulnerability-database/cve-2026-109437","name":"Lasso.security Advisory","tags":["technical-description","exploit"]},{"url":"https://github.com/CognicellAI/Cognition/releases/tag/v0.13.0","name":"Cognition v0.13.0 Release Notes","tags":["release-notes","patch"]},{"url":"https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/cognition-unauthenticated-rce-via-local-shell-backend","name":"VulnCheck Advisory: Cognition < 0.13.0 Unauthenticated RCE via Local Shell Backend","tags":["third-party-advisory"]}],"metrics":[{"format":"CVSS","scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"GENERAL"}],"cvssV4_0":{"attackVector":"NETWORK","attackComplexity":"LOW","attackRequirements":"PRESENT","privilegesRequired":"NONE","userInteraction":"NONE","vulnConfidentialityImpact":"HIGH","subConfidentialityImpact":"NONE","vulnIntegrityImpact":"HIGH","subIntegrityImpact":"NONE","vulnAvailabilityImpact":"HIGH","subAvailabilityImpact":"NONE","exploitMaturity":"NOT_DEFINED","Safety":"NOT_DEFINED","Automatable":"NOT_DEFINED","Recovery":"NOT_DEFINED","valueDensity":"NOT_DEFINED","vulnerabilityResponseEffort":"NOT_DEFINED","providerUrgency":"NOT_DEFINED","version":"4.0","baseSeverity":"CRITICAL","baseScore":9.2,"vectorString":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"}},{"format":"CVSS","scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"GENERAL"}],"cvssV3_1":{"attackVector":"NETWORK","attackComplexity":"LOW","privilegesRequired":"NONE","userInteraction":"NONE","scope":"UNCHANGED","confidentialityImpact":"HIGH","integrityImpact":"HIGH","availabilityImpact":"HIGH","version":"3.1","baseSeverity":"CRITICAL","baseScore":9.8,"vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"}}],"problemTypes":[{"descriptions":[{"cweId":"CWE-1188","lang":"en","description":"Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default","type":"CWE"},{"cweId":"CWE-306","lang":"en","description":"Missing Authentication for Critical Function","type":"CWE"}]}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"VulnCheck","orgId":"83251b91-4cc7-4094-a5c7-464a1b83ea10","dateUpdated":"2026-10-23T13:28:30.752Z"},"tags":["x_open-source"],"datePublic":"2026-07-27T00:00:00.000Z","credits":[{"lang":"en","value":"Noy Pearl","type":"finder"},{"lang":"en","value":"Michael Sromin","type":"finder"},{"lang":"en","value":"Ophir Dror","type":"finder"}],"solutions":[{"lang":"en","value":"Upgrade to Cognition 0.13.0 or later. Version 0.13.0 refuses the local sandbox backend unless COGNITION_ALLOW_UNSAFE_LOCAL_EXECUTION is explicitly set to true, and that setting defaults to false."}],"source":{"discovery":"UNKNOWN"},"x_generator":{"engine":"vulncheck"}},"adp":[{"title":"CISA ADP Vulnrichment","metrics":[{"other":{"type":"ssvc","content":{"timestamp":"2026-10-20T16:03:09.450817Z","id":"CVE-2026-109437","options":[{"Exploitation":"poc"},{"Automatable":"no"},{"Technical Impact":"total"}],"role":"CISA Coordinator","version":"2.0.3"}}}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"CISA-ADP","orgId":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0","dateUpdated":"2026-10-20T16:10:17.731Z"}}]}}}