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PraisonaiApplication · Praison

CVE-2026-40159

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.5.128 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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
PraisonAI is a multi-agent teams system. Prior to 4.5.128, PraisonAI’s MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration allows spawning background servers via stdio using user-supplied command strings (e.g., MCP("npx -y @smithery/cli ...")). These commands are executed through Python’s subprocess module. By default, the implementation forwards the entire parent process environment to the spawned subprocess. As a result, any MCP command executed in this manner inherits all environment variables from the host process, including sensitive data such as API keys, authentication tokens, and database credentials. This behavior introduces a security risk when untrusted or third-party commands are used. In common scenarios where MCP tools are invoked via package runners such as npx -y, arbitrary code from external or potentially compromised packages may execute with access to these inherited environment variables. This creates a risk of unintended credential exposure and enables potential supply chain attacks through silent exfiltration of secrets. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.5.128.

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

PraisonAI's MCP integration spawns background servers via stdio using user-supplied command strings executed through Python's subprocess module. The implementation forwards the entire parent process environment to spawned subprocesses, causing sensitive data such as API keys, authentication tokens, and database credentials to be inherited by potentially untrusted or compromised external packages.

MitigationUpdate PraisonAI to version 4.5.128 or later, which fixes the environment variable inheritance issue.

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

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
PraisonaiApplication
Affected:< 4.5.128

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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. Check installed PraisonAI version
    Run 'pip show praisonai' or 'pip list | grep -i praison' to see the installed version number
    Affected if The version listed is less than 4.5.128 (e.g., 4.5.100, 4.4.0, etc.)
  2. Verify MCP integration is in use
    Inspect your codebase or configuration files for MCP client initialization, particularly any usage of stdio-based server spawning with user-supplied command strings
    Affected if Your application initializes or uses MCP clients that spawn background servers via stdio using subprocess with command strings from user input
  3. Identify sensitive environment variables present
    Run 'env | grep -iE "(api|token|secret|key|password|credential)"' in the shell where PraisonAI runs to list exposed sensitive variables
    Affected if API keys, authentication tokens, database credentials, or other secrets exist in the parent process environment that should not be passed to external packages
  4. Check subprocess spawn configuration
    Review the source code of the MCP integration (file paths like mcp/client/stdio.py or similar) to confirm subprocess is called with inherit_env=True or equivalent default behavior
    Affected if The subprocess invocation does not explicitly disable environment variable inheritance (e.g., uses env=None or does not set env={})

You are affected if you run PraisonAI version below 4.5.128 AND use MCP integration that spawns subprocesses with full environment variable inheritance, allowing sensitive credentials to be passed to external packages.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.5.128 or later
Fixed in 4.5.128
Interim mitigation

Update PraisonAI to version 4.5.128 or later, which fixes the environment variable inheritance issue.

Recommended fix High confidence

4.5.128

  1. Upgrade PraisonAI to version 4.5.128 or later by running the appropriate package manager command (e.g., pip install prasionai==4.5.128 or pip install --upgrade prasionai)
  2. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the installed version
  3. If using MCP integrations, test that they function correctly after the upgrade to confirm the environment variable isolation fix is working

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Praisonai 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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

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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-2026-40159 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data