CVE-2025-66401 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in mcp-watch. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.
MCP Watch has a Critical Command Injection in cloneRepo allows Remote Code Execution (RCE) via malicious URL
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-66401.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
mcp-watchnpmDescription
Summary
The MCPScanner class contains a critical Command Injection vulnerability in the cloneRepo method. The application passes the user-supplied githubUrl argument directly to a system shell via execSync without sanitization. This allows an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the host machine by appending shell metacharacters to the URL.
Details
The vulnerability exists in the src/scanner/MCPScanner.ts file within the cloneRepo method.
The code uses child_process.execSync to execute a git clone command:
Because execSync spawns a shell (defaulting to /bin/sh on Unix or cmd.exe on Windows), any shell metacharacters present in the url argument will be interpreted by the shell. The application does not validate that the url is a valid Git URL, nor does it sanitize input for shell metacharacters.
PoC
Install the package or clone the repository.
Run the scanner using the CLI (or invoke scanRepository programmatically).
Provide a malicious URL containing a command separator (e.g., ;, &, or |) and a system command.
payload : npm run scan:github "https://github.com/kapilduraphe/mcp-watch & calc.exe"
Impact
Severity: Critical
CVSS Score: 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) Description: This vulnerability allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the machine running the scanner.
If run by a developer locally, it compromises their workstation.
If deployed as a hosted scanning service, it grants the attacker full control over the server (RCE), leading to potential data exfiltration, service disruption, or further lateral movement within the infrastructure.
Context Dependent Risk:
Local CLI : If you run this tool locally on your own machine, you are "hacking yourself." The risk is limited unless you copy-paste a malicious URL sent by someone else (e.g., "Hey, check this repo scan: npm run scan "https://git./..; rm -rf /").
Web Service / CI Pipeline (Critical Risk): If this scanner is deployed as a web service (e.g., "Paste your repo URL to scan"), an attacker can take full control of the server immediately.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | mcp-watch | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
mcp watchkapildurapheDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for mcp-watch, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
The records we use list no patched version of mcp-watch for CVE-2025-66401. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range.
Mitigate without a patch
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-66401 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.