MCP Toolbox HTTP tool path parameters allow traversal to unintended endpoints

Critical9.1CVE-2026-11720 · Published Jun 29, 2026 · updated Sep 10, 2026

A path traversal vulnerability exists in the HTTP tool URL builder of googleapis/mcp-toolbox. When constructing downstream API requests, the URL builder substitutes user-controlled pathParams into the configured tool path and parses the resulting string as a relative URL. While it checks that the input does not alter the scheme, host, or user info, it relies on ResolveReference for the final URL resolution. Because dot segments (../) are normalized during this resolution step, an attacker can supply path parameters containing directory traversal sequences to escape the operator-configured path scope. This allows the client to coerce the toolbox into making requests to unintended endpoints on the same target host while forwarding the toolbox's configured credentials (e.g., bypassing a restricted path like /api/v1/users/{{.id}} to reach /admin/secrets).