CVE-2025-53818

CVE-2025-53818 is a high-severity OS command injection vulnerability in @sunwood-ai-labs/github-kanban-mcp-server (npm), affecting versions <= 0.3.0. No fixed version is listed yet.

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Summary

GitHub Kanban MCP Server vulnerable to Command Injection

The MCP Server at https://github.com/Sunwood-ai-labs/github-kanban-mcp-server/ is written in a way that is vulnerable to command injection vulnerability attacks as part of some of its MCP Server tool definition and implementation.

Vulnerable tool

The MCP Server exposes the tool add_comment which relies on Node.js child process API exec to execute the GitHub (gh) command, is an unsafe and vulnerable API if concatenated with untrusted user input.

Data flows from the tool definition here which takes in args.issue_number and calls handleAddComment() in this definitino that uses exec in an insecure way.

Vulnerable line of code: https://github.com/Sunwood-ai-labs/github-kanban-mcp-server/blob/main/src/handlers/comment-handlers.ts#L8-L23

export async function handleAddComment(args: {
  repo: string;
  issue_number: string;
  body: string;
  state?: 'open' | 'closed';
}): Promise<ToolResponse> {
  const tempFile = 'comment_body.md';

  try {
    // ステータスの変更が指定されている場合は先に処理
    if (args.state) {
      try {
        const command = args.state === 'closed' ? 'close' : 'reopen';
        await execAsync(
          `gh issue ${command} ${args.issue_number} --repo ${args.repo}`
        );

Exploitation Proof of Concept

When LLMs are tricked through prompt injection (and other techniques and attack vectors) to call the tool with input that uses special shell characters such as ; rm -rf /tmp;# (be careful actually executing this payload) and other payload variations, the full command-line text will be interepted by the shell and result in other commands except of ps executing on the host running the MCP Server.

Reference example from prior security research on this topic, demonstrating how a similarly vulnerable MCP Server connected to Cursor is abused with prompt injection to bypass the developer's intended command:

References and Prior work

  1. Exploiting MCP Servers Vulnerable to Command Injection
  2. Liran's Node.js Secure Coding: Defending Against Command Injection Vulnerabilities

Credit

Disclosed by Liran Tal

Impact

User initiated and remote command injection on a running MCP Server.

Untrusted input reaches a shell command, allowing arbitrary commands to run on the host. Typical impact: code execution in the application's environment.

Affected versions

@sunwood-ai-labs/github-kanban-mcp-server (<= 0.3.0)

Security releases

Not available

Kodem intelligence

Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.

Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.

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Remediation advice

  • Don't use exec. Use execFile instead, which pins the command and provides the arguments as array elements.
  • If the user input is not a command-line flag, use the -- notation to terminate command and command-line flag, and indicate that the text after the -- double dash notation is benign value.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is CVE-2025-53818? CVE-2025-53818 is a high-severity OS command injection vulnerability in @sunwood-ai-labs/github-kanban-mcp-server (npm), affecting versions <= 0.3.0. No fixed version is listed yet. Untrusted input reaches a shell command, allowing arbitrary commands to run on the host.
  2. Which versions of @sunwood-ai-labs/github-kanban-mcp-server are affected by CVE-2025-53818? @sunwood-ai-labs/github-kanban-mcp-server (npm) versions <= 0.3.0 is affected.
  3. Is there a fix for CVE-2025-53818? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2025-53818 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
  4. Is CVE-2025-53818 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-53818 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
  5. What actually determines whether CVE-2025-53818 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
  6. How do I fix CVE-2025-53818? No fixed version is listed yet. In the interim: Avoid passing untrusted input to shell commands. Use parameterized APIs or libraries that do not invoke a shell.

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