Atlassian MCP: Infinite auth tabs + connection timeouts

Support Bug Reports
1

Describe the Bug

The Atlassian MCP integration has two issues:

  1. Infinite authentication tabs - After some time using the Atlassian MCP tools, browser tabs keep opening repeatedly asking for Atlassian authentication. Closing them doesn’t help - they keep spawning in an infinite loop.

  2. Random 401 timeouts - The connection returns “401 Unauthorized” after approximately 5-10 minutes of use, even though it was working fine moments before. The only workaround is to toggle the MCP connection off and on again in Cursor settings.

Both issues started occurring in the last few days.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Configure Atlassian MCP server in Cursor
  2. Successfully authenticate and use Atlassian tools (getJiraIssue, createJiraIssue, etc.)
  3. Continue working in a conversation for 5-10+ minutes
  4. Try another Atlassian tool call
  5. Observe: Either get 401 Unauthorized error, or browser tabs start opening repeatedly for auth

Expected Behavior

  • Authentication should happen once and persist for the duration of the session
  • No infinite tab loops for re-authentication
  • Connection should remain valid during active use without random 401 errors

Operating System

MacOS

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Latest stable version (Dec 2024)

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

2

Hey, thanks for the report. This is a known issue with OAuth authentication for MCP servers, and the team is working on a fix.

Related threads:

Workaround: Toggle the MCP server off and on in Cursor settings, like you’re already doing.

For a deeper look, could you share the Output logs:

  • Open the Output panel
  • In the dropdown, select MCP: Atlassian-MCP-Server
  • Share the error messages, especially when the infinite tab loop starts

I’ll pass your report to the team and link it to the active investigation.