CVE-2025-32018
[cursor] Arbitrary file write from Cursor Agent through a prompt injection from malicious @Docs
Executive Summary
CVE-2025-32018 is a high severity vulnerability affecting ai-code. It is classified as CWE-20. Ensure your systems and dependencies are patched immediately to mitigate exposure risks.
Precogs AI Insight
"The fundamental weakness here is traced back to within ### Summary, allowing the mishandling of memory allocation boundaries. A threat actor could leverage this oversight to gain unauthorized read or write access, effectively hijacking underlying configurations. The Precogs detection suite automatically flags these architectural defects to neutralize the threat at the source level."
What is this vulnerability?
CVE-2025-32018 is categorized as a critical Improper Input Validation flaw. Based on our vulnerability intelligence, this issue occurs when the application fails to securely handle untrusted data boundaries.
Summary A recent change in the Cursor app introduced a regression affecting the set of file paths the Cursor Agent is permitted to modify automaticall.
This architectural defect enables adversaries to bypass intended security controls, directly manipulating the application's execution state or data layer. Immediate strategic intervention is required.
Risk Assessment
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| CVSS Base Score | 8 (HIGH) |
| Vector String | N/A |
| Published | April 8, 2025 |
| Last Modified | April 8, 2025 |
| Related CWEs | CWE-20 |
Impact on Systems
✅ Chained Exploitation: Serves as the root cause enabling XSS, SQLi, and Command Injection attacks down the execution chain.
✅ Business Logic Bypass: Manipulating unexpected inputs (e.g., negative integers for price amounts) subverts core business logic.
✅ Denial of Service: Sending massively oversized or recursively complex inputs can exhaust CPU/Memory parsing limits.
How to fix this issue?
Implement the following strategic mitigations immediately to eliminate the attack surface.
1. Strict Allow-listing Define rigid, regex-based allow-lists for all input vectors, rejecting any data that does not conform to the expected length, type, and format.
2. Type Juggling Prevention Utilize strong static typing and strictly compare variable types before processing data structures.
3. API Gateway Defenses Deploy Web Application Firewalls (WAF) and central API Gateways to strip malformed payloads before they reach internal services.
Vulnerability Signature
// Improper Validation resulting in unexpected logic execution
function process_order(quantity) \{
// VULNERABLE: No check if quantity is positive or an integer
let total_price = quantity * 100.00;
user_balance -= total_price; // Negative quantity INCREASES balance
\}
References and Sources
- NVD — CVE-2025-32018
- MITRE — CVE-2025-32018
- CWE-20 — MITRE CWE
- CWE-20 Details
- AI Code Security Vulnerabilities
Vulnerability Code Signature
Attack Data Flow
| Stage | Detail |
|---|---|
| Source | Untrusted User Input |
| Vector | Input flows through the application logic without sanitization |
| Sink | Execution or Rendering Sink |
| Impact | Application compromise, Logic Bypass, Data Exfiltration |
Vulnerable Code Pattern
# ❌ VULNERABLE: Unsanitized Input Flow
def process_request(request):
user_input = request.GET.get('data')
# Taint sink: processing untrusted data
execute_logic(user_input)
return {"status": "success"}
Secure Code Pattern
# ✅ SECURE: Input Validation & Sanitization
def process_request(request):
user_input = request.GET.get('data')
# Sanitized boundary check
if not is_valid_format(user_input):
raise ValueError("Invalid input format")
sanitized_data = sanitize(user_input)
execute_logic(sanitized_data)
return {"status": "success"}
How Precogs Detects This
Precogs AI Analysis Engine maps untrusted input directly to execution sinks to catch complex application security vulnerabilities.\n