A path traversal vulnerability exists in Zen MCP Server before 9.8.2 that allows authenticated attackers to read arbitrary files on the system.
Date: 2026-01
Affected: busymac/pal_mcp_server
Attack vector: path-traversal
Category: vulnerability-disclosure
Severity: Medium
CVE: CVE-2025-66689
CWE: CWE-22
CWE-552
CVSS: 6.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N)

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.


Mitigations:

Architectural layers (MAESTRO):