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Vulnerability Intelligence Report
MCP Context Forge: Hardcoded default JWT_SECRET_KEY shipped in source and .env.example enables pre-authentication platform admin token forgery

CVE-2026-53709

MCP Context Forge is an MCP gateway and administrative platform. Prior to 1.0.2, mcpgateway/config.py and .env.example ship a known JWT_SECRET_KEY, while verify_jwt_token() accepts HS256 tokens signed with that key and get_current_user() creates a platform administrator when the token subject matches PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL and REQUIRE_USER_IN_DB is false. A remote unauthenticated attacker can therefore mint accepted administrator tokens without a database account. While the vulnerable signing key remains configured and the platform-admin bootstrap remains enabled, forged access survives password rotation, account deletion, and session revocation, allowing administrative disclosure, modification, and service disruption. This issue is fixed in version 1.0.2.

Authentication Bypass No Active Exploit Signals
CVSS Base Score
9.8
CRITICAL
Exploitability:3.9
Impact Score:5.9
Executive Threat Verdict
Evaluating...
Evaluating Threat Landscape...
Assessing known weaponization, exploitation telemetry, and federal advisories.
Attack Surface
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Authentication
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Weaponization
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SSVC Action
—

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-287 ↗CWE-287: Improper Authentication
CWE-321 ↗CWE-321: Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key
CWE-798 ↗CWE-798: Use of Hard-coded Credentials
CWE-1188 ↗CWE-1188: Insecure Default Initialization of Resource

Affected Products & Versions

Vendor Product Affected Versions
IBM mcp-context-forge < 1.0.2 (affected)

References & Technical Advisories

No reference links found.

Threat Intelligence Signals

Vulnerability Class
Authentication Bypass

Identity & Timeline

StatusPUBLISHED
Assigning AuthorityGitHub, Inc. · Vendor · USA
Reserved2026-06-10T16:43:31
Published2026-10-13T14:32:12
Last Updated2026-10-13T14:32:12

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