OS Command InjectionWeakness · CWE-78

CVE-2025-53818

HIGH · 8.9 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-07-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
98/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
GitHub Kanban MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for managing GitHub issues in Kanban board format and streamlining LLM task management. Version 0.3.0 of the 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. 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. As of time of publication, no known patches are available.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The GitHub Kanban MCP Server version 0.3.0 contains a command injection vulnerability in the `add_comment` tool. The tool uses Node.js `child_process.exec` to execute the GitHub CLI (`gh`) command, directly concatenating untrusted user input into the shell command string without proper sanitization or use of safe parameterization methods.

MitigationReplace the unsafe `exec` call with `execFile` or `spawn` using array arguments to pass user input as parameters rather than shell string concatenation, ensuring no user-controlled input can be interpreted as shell commands.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify GitHub Kanban MCP Server installation and version
    Check the installed package version using npm list @modelcontextprotocol/server-github-kanban or look for the package in node_modules/package.json
    Affected if The installed version is 0.3.0
  2. Verify the add_comment tool is enabled or used
    Review the MCP server configuration or runtime logs to confirm the add_comment tool is loaded and available for use
    Affected if The add_comment tool is enabled in the server configuration
  3. Inspect source code for vulnerable exec pattern
    Locate the add_comment tool implementation in the server source code and examine how the GitHub CLI (gh) command is invoked. Look for child_process.exec with string concatenation of user input.
    Affected if The code uses child_process.exec with string concatenation to build the gh command rather than execFile or spawn with array arguments

If the installed version is 0.3.0 and the add_comment tool is being used, the environment is vulnerable to command injection via unsanitized user input passed to the GitHub CLI.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Replace the unsafe `exec` call with `execFile` or `spawn` using array arguments to pass user input as parameters rather than shell string concatenation, ensuring no user-controlled input can be interpreted as shell commands.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-53818 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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