CVE-2026-18489: IBM ContextForge Translate is affected by cross-client credential context confusion

Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available

What, why and how

IBM ContextForge MCP Gateway - Translate utility <= 1.0.8 MCP Context Forge could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from other sessions due to exposure of data elements to the wrong session.

What

Why

The product does not sufficiently enforce boundaries between the states of different sessions, causing data to be provided to, or used by, the wrong session.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation without authentication or user interaction. If successful, the issue may obtain information outside the intended access boundary.

What

Why

The product does not sufficiently enforce boundaries between the states of different sessions, causing data to be provided to, or used by, the wrong session.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation without authentication or user interaction. If successful, the issue may obtain information outside the intended access boundary.

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation

Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.

No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material

Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.

None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path: a network path → Exposure of Data Element to Wrong Session → obtain information outside the intended access boundary
Attack surface: Network
Privileges required: None: unauthenticated exploitation is possible
User interaction: None
Attack complexity: High: exploitation depends on specific conditions
Security boundary: Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness ? CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.: CWE-488 ↗
CWE-488: Exposure of Data Element to Wrong Session. The product does not sufficiently enforce boundaries between the states of different sessions, causing data to be provided to, or used by, the wrong session.
CVSS vector ? CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.
AVNetworkAttack vector: The vulnerable component can be reached over a network.ACHighAttack complexity: Successful exploitation depends on specific conditions outside the attacker's direct control.PRNonePrivileges required: The attacker does not need an account or existing privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.ANoneAvailability impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.
Post-exploitation / living off the land: No specific living-off-the-land technique is confirmed in the structured sources. Monitor normal administration tools for activity inconsistent with the affected service's baseline.

NetworkUnauthenticatedCWE-488

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-71604Official EUVD mapping

Official EUVD record ↗

Cyber Security Agency of Singapore · English · CSA-SB-20260909Security Bulletin 9 Sep 2026

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore included this CVE in its official Security Bulletin 9 Sep 2026, published on 9 September 2026. Open the linked bulletin for the product, severity and reference information published in that issue.

Official advisory ↗

JVN iPedia · Japanese · JVNDB-2026-033731IBMのContextforgeにおける誤ったセッションへのデータ要素の漏えいに関する脆弱性

IBM ContextForge MCP Gateway - Translateユーティリティ＜= 1.0.8 において、MCP Context Forgeのデータ要素が誤ったセッションに露出することにより、リモートの攻撃者が他のセッションから機密情報を取得できる可能性があります。

Official advisory ↗

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status ? Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.: Patch available
Affected: ContextForge MCP Gateway - Translate utility: ≤ 1.0.8
Fixed: IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now.
The IBM ContextForge Translate service is intended **only for local, single-session development use**. It does not provide the session isolation required for production or multi-client deployments. Users must ensure the Translate service is not exposed in any production capacity.
PR [#6388]( https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/pull/6388) https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/pull/6388%29 (merged 2026-08-24) updates the product documentation to make this restriction explicit, removing previous guidance that could have implied multi-tenant production suitability.
Action: Review the linked authoritative reference and apply the recorded fixed release appropriate to the affected product branch.
Workaround: No verified workaround is recorded. If business-safe, reduce exposure to the affected interface and allow only trusted sources until authoritative guidance is available.

Official vendor articles1 stored document

Linked articles are downloaded and versioned as source evidence. A CVE mention or approved update relationship does not, by itself, verify a fix for every product branch.

Security Bulletin: IBM ContextForge Translate is affected by cross-client credential context confusion →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026IBM Support No results were found for your search query. Tips To return expected results, you can: Reduce the number of search terms. Each term you use focuses the search further. Check your spelling. A single misspelled or incorrectly typed term can change your result. Try substituting synonyms for your original ter

Evidence and provenance

Published 4 Sept 2026 · Last source change 4 Sept 2026, 17:29 UTC · CWE-488 · Exposure of Data Element to Wrong Session

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2

CVSS sourceCNA

EPSS source

The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.

FIRST · tracked since 2026-09-05

European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-71604

Product sourceCNA

Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references

CWE sourceCNA

NVD statusNVD enriched

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗

6 Sep 2026, 08:53 UTC
ENISA EUVD mappingEUVD-2026-71604 was added to the official ENISA EUVD mapping for this CVE.
Before
not recorded
After
{"euvdId":"EUVD-2026-71604"}
ENISA EUVD ↗
4 Sep 2026, 17:29 UTC
Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added patch: ibm.com/7286056; added remediation: ibm.com/7286056.
Before
no authoritative guidance recorded
After
patch: ibm.com/7286056 · remediation: ibm.com/7286056
psirt@us.ibm.com ↗
4 Sep 2026, 17:29 UTC
Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.
Before
<= 1.0.8 · Fixed: No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
After
ContextForge MCP Gateway - Translate utility: <= 1.0.8 · Fixed: IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now.; The IBM ContextForge Translate service is intended **only for local, single-session development use**. It does not provide the session isolation required for production or multi-client deployments. Users must ensure the Translate service is not exposed in any production capacity.; PR [#6388]( https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/pull/6388) https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/pull/6388%29 (merged 2026-08-24) updates the product documentation to make this restriction explicit, removing previous guidance that could have implied multi-tenant production suitability.
CNA ↗
4 Sep 2026, 17:29 UTC
Remediation statusRemediation status changed from Awaiting fix to Patch available.
Before
Awaiting fix
After
Patch available
psirt@us.ibm.com ↗
4 Sep 2026, 17:16 UTC
Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.
CNA ↗

2026-09-04CVE published

2026-09-04Fixed release or patch reference recorded

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-71604↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗

Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report

CVE: Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS: Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS: Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE: Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA: CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP: Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD: National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT: A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC: Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF: Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL: Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.

IBM ContextForge Translate is affected by cross-client credential context confusion

Published severity in operational context

Evidence used

Compensating controls

Verification

National CERT insights
?
CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

EUVD-2026-71604