CVE-2026-111771

Description

A flaw was found in the Model Context Protocol (MCP) TypeScript SDK. The server-side authentication mechanism fails to verify that incoming access tokens were specifically issued for the target server. A remote attacker with a valid token issued for another service within the same authorization environment can exploit this issue to bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to server resources.

Statement

This vulnerability is rated as having a Moderate impact because exploitation requires specific architectural preconditions, namely an authorization server that issues tokens for multiple disparate services and an attacker who already holds a valid access token for another service. Deployments are unaffected if the application independently verifies the intended recipient of incoming tokens. Furthermore, the issue only affects server-side HTTP bearer authentication implementations where audience validation has not been explicitly configured.

Mitigation

Validate the token audience within the application's token verification callback:

Configure the application's `verifyAccessToken()` handler to inspect the `aud` (audience) claim of incoming bearer tokens and reject any token that does not explicitly match the expected identifier or URL of the target service.

Implementing this manual check prevents tokens issued for other services from granting access. The affected application service must be restarted for configuration and code changes to take effect.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score6.8N/A6.8
Attack VectorNetworkN/ANetwork
Attack ComplexityHighN/AHigh
Privileges RequiredLowN/ALow
User InteractionNoneN/ANone
ScopeUnchangedN/AUnchanged
ConfidentialityHighN/AHigh
Integrity ImpactHighN/AHigh
Availability ImpactNoneN/ANone

Vector

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

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Access Control

Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism

An incorrect implementation may allow authentication to be bypassed.

Frequently Asked Questions

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