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MCP Ruby SDK: Ruby SSE Session Poisoning

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jul 8, 2026 in modelcontextprotocol/ruby-sdk • Updated Jul 30, 2026

Package

bundler mcp (RubyGems)

Affected versions

<= 0.22.0

Patched versions

0.23.0

Description

Summary

Vulnerability: Missing Session Ownership Validation in the Ruby MCP SDK's Streamable and SSE HTTP transport implementation. Any attacker with a stolen session ID can execute tools with the victim's session. This is a silent attack - the victim's session is compromised and being used for unauthorized actions, but it is hard to know for the victim

Details

https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ruby-sdk/blob/main/lib/mcp/server/transports/streamable_http_transport.rb#L260-L278

Victim starts a legitimate MCP session and receives session ID abc-123
Attacker obtains the session ID (various means - network sniffing, logs, etc. out of scope for this analysis)
Attacker sends POST to /messages/abc-123 with a tool call
Server accepts the request (no ownership validation!)
Server executes the tool and sends response to victim's SSE stream
Victim receives attacker's response, thinking it's legitimate

PoC

attacker_client.py
legitimate_client.py

Prerequisites

  1. Python 3.8+
  2. Install dependencies: requests

Running the Demo

  1. Terminal 1: Start the Ruby MCP Server

ruby streamable_http_server.rb

Makes use of https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ruby-sdk/blob/main/examples/streamable_http_server.rb
This server has a tool call notification_tool which the clients call

  1. Terminal 2: Start Victim Client

python3 legitimate_client.py

  1. Terminal 3 - Attacker Client:

Copy the session ID from Terminal 1 and run:

python3 attacker_client.py abc-123-def-456
  1. Back to Terminal 2 - Victim sees the injected response:

Impact

  • Integrity: HIGH - Attacker can execute unauthorized tools and modify state
  • Availability: LOW - Attacker can disrupt victim's session with injected responses

Additional Details

Session Hijacking Protection in MCP Implementations

The MCP specification recommends - "MCP servers SHOULD bind session IDs to user-specific information".

User Binding - Comparison other SDKs

csharp-sdk

Go-sdk

Comparison with the Stream Replacement vulnerability

Stream Replacement
GHSA-qvqr-5cv7-wh35

  • Target: SSE stream connection
  • Attack Vector: GET /mcp
  • What happens to Victim: The connection is disconnected and doesn't receive reponses

Session Poisoning

  • Target: Tool execution
  • Attack Vector: POST /mcp
  • What happens to Victim: The connection stays connected and receives responses of tool calls by attacker

References

@koic koic published to modelcontextprotocol/ruby-sdk Jul 8, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jul 29, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jul 30, 2026
Reviewed Jul 30, 2026
Last updated Jul 30, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements Present
Privileges Required None
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity High
Availability Low
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(20th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Access Control

The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-67431

GHSA ID

GHSA-5p9g-j988-pcwv

Source code

Credits

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