A path traversal vulnerability exists in Zen MCP Server before 9.8.2 that allows authenticated attackers to read arbitrary files on the system. The vulnerability is caused by flawed logic in the is_dangerous_path() validation function that uses exact string matching against a blacklist of system directories. Attackers can bypass these restrictions by accessing subdirectories of blacklisted paths.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-66689 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Core evidence: 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ | |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-01-13 | — | 0.04% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.5 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
2.8 | 3.6 | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| busymac | pal_mcp_server | < 9.8.2 | cpe:2.3:a:busymac:pal_mcp_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/zen-mcp-server/issues/293 | Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory |
| https://github.com/Team-Off-course/MCP-Server-Vuln-Analysis/blob/main/CVE-2025-66689.md | Exploit Third Party Advisory |