CVE-2025-59834

Command Injection in adb-mcp MCP Server

The MCP Server at https://github.com/srmorete/adb-mcp 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.

The MCP Server is also published publicly to npm at www.npmjs.com/package/adb-mcp and allows users to install it.

Vulnerable tool

The MCP Server defines the function executeAdbCommand() which executes commands via string as a parameter and wraps the promise-based exec function.

The MCP Server then exposes the tool inspect_ui which relies on Node.js child process API exec (through the function wrapper) to execute the Android debugging command (adb). Relying on exec is an unsafe and vulnerable API if concatenated with untrusted user input.

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

Vulnerable line of code: https://github.com/srmorete/adb-mcp/blob/master/src/index.ts#L334-L352

// Add adb UI dump tool
server.tool(
  "inspect_ui",
  AdbUidumpSchema.shape,
  async (args: z.infer<typeof AdbUidumpSchema>, _extra: RequestHandlerExtra) => {
    log(LogLevel.INFO, "Dumping UI hierarchy");
    
    const deviceArg = formatDeviceArg(args.device);
    const tempFilePath = createTempFilePath("adb-mcp", "window_dump.xml");
    const remotePath = args.outputPath || "/sdcard/window_dump.xml";
    
    try {
      // Dump UI hierarchy on device
      const dumpCommand = `adb ${deviceArg}shell uiautomator dump ${remotePath}`;
      await execPromise(dumpCommand);
      
      // Pull the UI dump from the device
      const pullCommand = `adb ${deviceArg}pull ${remotePath} ${tempFilePath}`;
      await execPromise(pullCommand);
      
      // Clean up the remote file
      await execPromise(`adb ${deviceArg}shell rm ${remotePath}`);

The argument to the tool, AdbDevicesSchema, is a Zod inferred type defined in the src/types.ts file in the project:

export const inspectUiInputSchema = {
  device: z.string().optional().describe("Specific device ID (optional)"),
  outputPath: z.string().optional().describe("Custom output path on device (default: /sdcard/window_dump.xml)"),
  asBase64: z.boolean().optional().default(false).describe("Return XML content as base64 (default: false)")
};

and exposes device as a string which is an open way to trick the LLM into pushing arbitrary strings into it and hence achieve the command injection exploitation.

Exploitation

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. Command Injection in codehooks-mcp-server MCP Server project https://www.nodejs-security.com/blog/command-injection-vulnerability-codehooks-mcp-server-security-analysis identified as CVE-2025-53100
2. Command Injection in ios-simulator-mcp-server MCP Server project https://www.nodejs-security.com/blog/ios-simulator-mcp-server-command-injection-vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-52573
3. Liran's Node.js Secure Coding: Defending Against Command Injection Vulnerabilities

Credit

Disclosed by Liran Tal

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

Untrusted input is inserted into a command that is later executed by the application, allowing the attacker to alter the intent of that command. Typical impact: arbitrary command execution in the application's environment.

CVE-2025-59834 has a CVSS score of 9.8 (Critical). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.

Kodem intelligence

• 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.

1. What is CVE-2025-59834? CVE-2025-59834 is a critical-severity command injection vulnerability in adb-mcp (npm), affecting versions <= 0.1.0. No fixed version is listed yet. Untrusted input is inserted into a command that is later executed by the application, allowing the attacker to alter the intent of that command.
2. How severe is CVE-2025-59834? CVE-2025-59834 has a CVSS score of 9.8 (Critical). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of adb-mcp are affected by CVE-2025-59834? adb-mcp (npm) versions <= 0.1.0 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2025-59834? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2025-59834 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
5. Is CVE-2025-59834 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-59834 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
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2025-59834 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.
7. How do I fix CVE-2025-59834? No fixed version is listed yet. In the interim: Avoid constructing commands from untrusted input. Use parameterized APIs that separate the command from its arguments.