Cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

[Chris_Drake]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor CLI

Describe the Bug

Latest update does not run on Ubuntu under WSL

Steps to Reproduce

Run WSL1 with ubuntu in it, try latest cursor agent:

[cnd@RoG:~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$ cursor-agent
/home/cnd/.local/bin/cursor-agent: line 10: /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac/node: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error
/home/cnd/.local/bin/cursor-agent: line 10: /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac/node: Success

Expected Behavior

should work

Operating System

Linux

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

/home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac/node: Success

[cnd@RoG:~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME=“Ubuntu”
VERSION=“20.04.6 LTS (Focal Fossa)”

and
[cnd@WIN-73KDV8N66MQ: Err:1~]$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME=“Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS”

Additional Information

This is not your fault - this is a node mistake - even the “node” package itself has a mangled binary too. They recently suffered a supply-chain security attack; maybe they’ve done something weird, or the node binary is still infected?

(on a different machine, same WSL1 ubuntu
[cnd@WIN-73KDV8N66MQ:~]$ node
-bash: /usr/bin/node: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

[cnd@RoG:~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$ /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.09.12-4852336/node --version
v22.18.0
[cnd@RoG:~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$ /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.09.17-25b418f/node --version
v22.18.0
[cnd@RoG:~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$ /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac/node --version
-bash: /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac/node: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error
[cnd@RoG: Err:1~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$ file /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.09.12-4852336/node
/home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.09.12-4852336/node: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (GNU/Linux), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, BuildID[sha1]=3041231d7c58acd5df3f437e19bb151d38b7fa5d, for GNU/Linux 3.2.0, with debug_info, not stripped, too many notes (256)
[cnd@RoG:~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$ file /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.09.17-25b418f/node
/home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.09.17-25b418f/node: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (GNU/Linux), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, BuildID[sha1]=3041231d7c58acd5df3f437e19bb151d38b7fa5d, for GNU/Linux 3.2.0, with debug_info, not stripped, too many notes (256)
[cnd@RoG:~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$ file /home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac/node
/home/cnd/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac/node: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (GNU/Linux), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, BuildID[sha1]=7a2dbeac534a96f24dd6ae49075f5af051414b07, for GNU/Linux 3.2.0, with debug_info, not stripped, too many notes (256)
[cnd@RoG:~/Downloads/cursor/python_mcp]$

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[Chris_Drake]

This is the workaround:

[cnd@RoG:~/…/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac]$ mv node node-ng
[cnd@RoG:~/…/cursor-agent/versions/2025.10.02-bd871ac]$ ln -s ../2025.09.17-25b418f/node

[yafangwang9 (Yafang（Cursor Ambassador）)]

thanks for sharing the result, and I also meet. these steps made me solve

Created a simulated older version directory at: ~/.local/share/cursor-agent/versions/2025.09.17-25b418f/
Downloaded Node.js v22.18.0 compatible with WSL 1
Downloaded and extracted from the Node.js official website.
Copied to the older version directory.
Applied the Forum Workaround
Backed up the incompatible node file as node-ng.
Created symbolic link: node → ../2025.09.17-25b418f/node