CVE-2026-49257 IBM QRadar · QRadar

Detect CVE-2026-49257: mcp-pinot Unauthenticated Tool Invocation via Default oauth_enabled=False in IBM QRadar

Detects exploitation of CVE-2026-49257, a critical authentication bypass in mcp-pinot-server (<=3.0.1). The server defaults to oauth_enabled=False and binds to 0.0.0.0, allowing any network-adjacent or internet-facing attacker to invoke MCP tools without authentication. CVSS 10.0 with public PoC available.

MITRE ATT&CK

Tactic
Initial Access Privilege Escalation Exfiltration

QRadar Detection Query

IBM QRadar (QRadar)
sql 
SELECT
  DATEFORMAT(starttime, 'YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm:ss') AS event_time,
  sourceip,
  destinationport,
  username,
  "URL" AS request_uri,
  "HTTP Method" AS http_method,
  "Authorization Header" AS auth_header,
  logsourcename(logsourceid) AS log_source
FROM events
WHERE
  LOGSOURCETYPENAME(devicetype) IN ('Apache HTTP Server', 'Nginx', 'Linux OS', 'Python Application')
  AND destinationport IN (8000, 8080, 8443, 9000, 3000)
  AND ("URL" LIKE '%/tools/%' OR "URL" LIKE '%/invoke%' OR "URL" LIKE '%/call%')
  AND ("Authorization Header" IS NULL OR "Authorization Header" = '')
  AND "HTTP Method" = 'POST'
  AND starttime > NOW() - 86400000
ORDER BY starttime DESC
LIMIT 1000
critical severity low confidence

AQL query to surface POST requests to MCP tool invocation paths on known MCP ports that lack Authorization headers, indicating potential unauthenticated access to mcp-pinot-server as enabled by CVE-2026-49257.

Data Sources

QRadar Network ActivityHTTP server log sourcesLinux OS log sources

Required Tables

events

False Positives & Tuning

  • Internal service calls on trusted VLAN segments not using bearer tokens
  • Log sources that do not capture Authorization header fields by default
  • Pre-authentication health check endpoints on the same port
  • Reverse proxies that consume and drop Authorization headers

Other platforms for CVE-2026-49257

Microsoft Sentinel (KQL) Splunk (SPL) Elastic Security (Elastic) Sumo Logic CSE (Sumo) Google Chronicle (YARA-L) CrowdStrike LogScale (LogScale) All platforms (combined) →

Testing Methodology

Validate this detection against 4 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.

  1. Test 1Verify Unauthenticated MCP Tool Listing

    Expected signal: HTTP 200 response with JSON list of available Pinot MCP tools returned without any authentication challenge; no 401 or 403 status code issued.

  2. Test 2Unauthenticated Pinot Query Execution via MCP Tool

    Expected signal: Pinot query execution log entry showing query 'SELECT * FROM myTable LIMIT 10' from MCP server without session token; HTTP 200 from mcp-pinot-server with query results in response body.

  3. Test 3External Network Exploitation Simulation

    Expected signal: Inbound TCP connection from external IP to port 8000; HTTP POST to /tools/list and /tools/call with source IP from outside trusted ranges; no TLS client certificate or Authorization header present.

  4. Test 4Confirm Vulnerable Package Version in Environment

    Expected signal: Command execution events showing pip, find, and ps commands with mcp-pinot arguments; output revealing package version <= 3.0.1 and running process details.

Last updated: 2026-06-27 Research depth: standard
References (6)

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