CVE-2026-42856
CVE-2026-42856 is a Missing Authentication vulnerability in network-ai. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-42856 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Network-AI: Missing authentication on MCP HTTP endpoint allows unauthenticated privileged tool calls
Blast Radius
Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.
network-ainpmDescription
Network-AI is a TypeScript/Node.js multi-agent orchestrator. Prior to 5.1.3, the MCP HTTP transport accepts JSON-RPC tools/call requests with no authentication, session, origin, or token check, and dispatches them directly to the orchestrator's tool registry. The default bind address is 0.0.0.0. As a result, any party with network reachability to the service can enumerate and invoke privileged management tools. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.1.3.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | network-ai | all versions | 5.1.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for network-ai. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update network-ai to 5.1.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-42856 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-42856 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-42856. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-42856 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-42856 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.