CVE-2026-53765 chrome-devtools-mcp: daemon.pid write follows symlinks in /tmp fallback runtime directory
A local attacker can overwrite arbitrary files via symlink attacks on the daemon PID file in the temporary directory.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-53765?
CVE-2026-53765 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in ChromeDevTools chrome-devtools-mcp, published on 24 Jun 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Chrome DevTools for agents (chrome-devtools-mcp) lets your coding agent control and inspect a live Chrome browser. From 0.20.0 until 1.1.0, The chrome-devtools-mcp daemon writes its PID file with fs.writeFileSync() to a deterministic runtime path. On typical macOS environments, and on Linux sessions where $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is unset, that runtime path falls back to /tmp/chrome-devtools-mcp-<uid>/daemon.pid. Because the write does not use O_NOFOLLOW, a local low-privilege user on the same POSIX host can pre-create /tmp/chrome-devtools-mcp-<victim_uid>/daemon.pid as a symlink to a file writable by the victim. When the victim later starts daemon mode, fs.writeFileSync() follows the symlink and truncates the target file to the daemon PID string. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.1.0.
Weakness: CWE-59
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53765?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including chrome-devtools-mcp. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
chrome-devtools-mcp npm | From 0.20.0 | 1.1.0 |
chrome-devtools-mcp npm | From 0.20.0 | 1.1.0 |
Products include Google Chrome-Devtools-Mcp.
How do I fix CVE-2026-53765?
Upgrade chrome-devtools-mcp to 1.1.0 or later.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-53765 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53765 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in ChromeDevTools chrome-devtools-mcp
Sources
Also known as GHSA-3pvj-jv98-qhjq.