CVE-2026-9353
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 · uneditedA security vulnerability has been detected in NousResearch hermes-agent up to 2026.4.23. Impacted is an unknown function of the file agent/skills_guard.py of the component Skills Guard Multi-Word Prompt Handler. The manipulation of the argument THREAT_PATTERNS leads to injection. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. The exploit has been disclosed publicly and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.
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 · moderate confidenceA remote injection vulnerability exists in the Skills Guard Multi-Word Prompt Handler of NousResearch hermes-agent (versions up to 2026.4.23). The THREAT_PATTERNS argument passed to agent/skills_guard.py is not properly validated, allowing attackers to inject malicious input that could bypass security controls or execute unintended operations.
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
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if hermes-agent is installedSearch for the hermes-agent package or application in your environment using package managers, file system searches, or running processesAffected if The hermes-agent software from NousResearch is present
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Determine the installed versionRun version detection commands for hermes-agent (e.g., pip show hermes-agent, npm list hermes-agent, or check version files) and compare against 2026.4.23Affected if The installed version is 2026.4.23 or earlier
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Locate the affected fileSearch for the file agent/skills_guard.py within the hermes-agent installation directoryAffected if The file agent/skills_guard.py exists in the installation
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Verify THREAT_PATTERNS configuration is in useInspect agent/skills_guard.py for references to THREAT_PATTERNS argument and examine how it is processed (look for variable usage, function calls, or configuration loading)Affected if THREAT_PATTERNS is defined, loaded, or passed to functions within skills_guard.py
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Confirm the Skills Guard Multi-Word Prompt Handler is enabledCheck if the Skills Guard functionality is actively loaded or imported in the running configuration, runtime environment, or main application entry pointAffected if The Skills Guard module is imported or enabled in the active runtime configuration
You are affected if hermes-agent is installed with version 2026.4.23 or earlier and the THREAT_PATTERNS argument in agent/skills_guard.py is actively used by the running service.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataImplement strict input validation and sanitization on the THREAT_PATTERNS parameter in the skills_guard.py file before processing. Consider using parameterized inputs or allowlists for expected pattern formats.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-9353 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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