CVE-2026-31231 — Unauthenticated remote code execution via Cognee notebook cell execution API

MITRE service request: 1988584

Status: RESERVED (pending a qualifying public reference per CNA Rules §5.3).

Official CVE description

Cognee thru v0.4.0 contains a critical remote code execution vulnerability in its notebook cell execution API endpoint. The endpoint is designed to execute arbitrary Python code provided by the user, but it does so using the unsafe exec() function without any sandboxing, validation, or security controls. An attacker can exploit this by sending a specially crafted POST request containing malicious Python code to the execution endpoint. This leads to arbitrary code execution on the Cognee server with the privileges of the server process, allowing complete compromise of the system.

Summary

Exposed notebook execution endpoints accept arbitrary Python lists and run them with exec on the server. When backend access control or authentication is disabled (as described in coordinated testing), any remote client can obtain a root-equivalent shell on the API host.

Affected product and versions

• Product: topoteretes/cognee.
• Affected range (coordination record): through v0.4.0 (commit 487635b71b204e62a28e91f141b64ae90708d68d).

Technical details

• Surface: POST /api/v1/notebook/{notebook_id}/{cell_id}/run (or equivalent) with JSON body containing Python statements.
• Sink: Server handler executes strings via exec / equivalent without sandbox.
• Preconditions: Network reachability; misconfiguration such as ENABLE_BACKEND_ACCESS_CONTROL=false and REQUIRE_AUTHENTICATION=false in disclosed scenarios.
• Impact: Full host compromise, lateral movement, data exfiltration.

Risk

Critical on any internet-facing Cognee deployment lacking strong auth.

Remediation / workaround

• Enforce authentication, network segmentation, and disable remote exec in production.
• Run API inside locked-down containers with seccomp/AppArmor.