Mercury is a Python framework for sharing Jupyter notebooks as web applications and dashboards. Prior to 3.2.6, default tokenless deployments allow anonymous clients to create Jupyter kernels and send execute_request messages containing arbitrary Python. The endpoint blocklist does not cover /api/kernels, and the websocket wrapper previously tracked idle activity without authorizing executable messages. This issue is fixed in version 3.2.6.
Affected: PyPI: mercury
Mercury runs a JupyterLab server with **anonymous access by default** (`mercury_app/__main__.py` sets `--IdentityProvider.token=''` when no `--token`/`MERCURY_TOKEN` is given; when tokenless it also sets `--ServerApp.disable_check_xsrf=True`). It relies on a **blocklist** (`mercury_app/block_handler.py` `BLOCKED_PATTERNS`: `/lab`, `/api/terminals`, `/api/shutdown`, `/files`) to keep anonymous users off dangerous Jupyter endpoints.
## The vulnerability `/api/kernels` is **NOT** in the blocklist (and cannot be β Mercury needs kernels to run notebooks), and `patch_kernel_websocket_handler()` (`mercury_app/idle_timeout.py`) only tracks the idle-timeout: it wraps `on_message` to call `self.application._timeout_manager.touch()` and then invokes the original handler with **no filtering of `execute_request`**. So any unauthenticated network client can:
``` POST /api/kernels {"name":"python3"} -> 201, returns kernel id open websocket /api/kernels/<id>/channels send an execute_request with arbitrary code -> arbitrary Python execution = RCE ```
## Distinct from GHSA-f8c7-rwf9-fmgm (incomplete fix) GHSA-f8c7 was "Unauthenticated RCE via `/api/terminals`" β a missing-comma blocklist bypass. Its fix (add the comma so `/api/terminals` is blocked) does **NOT** address `/api/kernels`, which remains exploitable. The blocklist approach is fundamentally unable to cover kernels, so this is not a variant that another blocklist entry fixes.
## Runtime-proven (on the patched version) Onβ¦