CVE-2026-85661
critical
CVSS v3
9.8
CVSS v4 NEW
9.3
VIR risk
9.8
Description
excel-mcp-server 0.1.8 fails to enforce path confinement in stdio mode when EXCEL_FILES_PATH is unset, allowing attackers to read and write arbitrary files. Attackers can supply unchecked file paths to read and write tools to access any file accessible to the process.
Predictions
Exploit likelihood
97%
Patch ETA
—
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
Propose a mitigation on Community Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
References
- https://github.com/haris-musa/excel-mcp-server
- https://github.com/haris-musa/excel-mcp-server/blob/v0.1.8/src/excel_mcp/server.py
- https://github.com/haris-musa/excel-mcp-server/blob/v0.1.8/src/excel_mcp/validation.py
- https://github.com/haris-musa/excel-mcp-server/issues/149
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/excel-mcp-server-0.1.8-arbitrary-file-read-write-via-stdio-mode
CWEs
CWE-22
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.