CVE-2026-7205

High

Published: 28 April 2026

Published

28 April 2026

Modified

29 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 7.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

EPSS Score 0.0006 18.7th percentile

Risk Priority 15 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-7205 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.3 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 18.7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

This vulnerability is AI-related — categorised as AI Agent Protocols and Integrations; in the Protocol-Specific Risks risk domain.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

prevent

Directly prevents path traversal by implementing input validation mechanisms on the 'topic' argument in the search_papers function to reject traversal sequences like '../'.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Requires timely identification, reporting, and correction of the path traversal flaw in src/main.py of duartium papers-mcp-server.

RA-5 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning partial match

preventdetect

Scans the application for vulnerabilities like CVE-2026-7205 path traversal and supports remediation or compensating controls.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1005 Data from Local System Collection

Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Path traversal in public-facing server enables remote exploitation (T1190); allows unauthorized file access outside intended directory facilitating data collection from local system (T1005).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

A vulnerability was identified in duartium papers-mcp-server 9ceb3812a6458ba7922ca24a7406f8807bc55598. Impacted is the function search_papers of the file src/main.py. Such manipulation of the argument topic leads to path traversal. The attack may be launched remotely. The exploit is publicly available and might…

be used. The project was informed of the problem early through an issue report but has not responded yet.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-7205 is a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) in the duartium papers-mcp-server project, specifically impacting the search_papers function in the file src/main.py at commit 9ceb3812a6458ba7922ca24a7406f8807bc55598. Published on 2026-04-28, the issue allows manipulation of the 'topic' argument and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).

The vulnerability enables remote exploitation by unauthenticated attackers requiring only network access and low attack complexity. Successful exploitation can result in limited impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability, such as unauthorized access to files outside the intended directory.

Advisories from VulDB indicate the project was informed early through GitHub issue #1 but has not responded, with no patches or official mitigations available as of the latest reports. Relevant references include the GitHub repository at https://github.com/duartium/papers-mcp-server/, the issue tracker at https://github.com/duartium/papers-mcp-server/issues/1, and VulDB entries at https://vuldb.com/vuln/359805.

A publicly available exploit exists and might be used in attacks.