Cursor Agent blocks file operations in system directories via Remote SSH

[ANABOLIC_007]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

The Cursor Agent cannot create, edit, or modify files in system directories (e.g., /var/www/, /etc/, /usr/, /opt/) when connected via Remote SSH. The agent returns the error: “Error calling tool: Editing this file is blocked by vscode-remote://ssh-remote%2B7b22686f73744e616d65223a2276756c7472227d/var/www/”. Key issues include: 1) File creation fails, 2) File editing fails, 3) Drag-and-drop from system directories fails, 4) Inconsistent behavior (works in ~/ and /tmp/, but not in /var/www/), 5) Selective restrictions (e.g., /etc/nginx/sites-available/ works, /var/www/ does not).

Steps to Reproduce

1. Connect to a remote Linux server (e.g., vultr) via SSH in Cursor IDE.
2. Open a workspace in a system directory (e.g., /var/www/).
3. Ask the Agent to create a test file: “Create test.txt in /var/www/”.
4. Agent fails with the blocking error.
5. Try to drag an existing file from /var/www/ into the chat - fails.
6. Repeat the same operations in a user home directory (e.g., ~/test) - succeeds.

Expected Behavior

The Agent should be able to create, edit, and work with files in any directory where the user has proper permissions (e.g., via chown and chmod), similar to its behavior in user home directories.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 1.7.33
VSCode Version: 1.7.33
Commit: adb0f9e3e4f184bba7f3fa6dbfd72ad0ebb8cfd0

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled

tool_41f63d74-861c-470d-9805-9c5d7cd9a01

Additional Information

• Problem appeared suddenly a few days ago (was working before).
• Reinstalling Cursor did not resolve the issue.
• Problem exists on fresh installations.
• Agent works perfectly in non-system directories.
• Logs from Console:
  2025-10-06 09:52:13.210 [error] Error resolving SSH authority Illegal argument: connectionToken
  2025-10-06 09:52:13.538 [info] [command][fa538716-ed9a-4990-a9f6-cc6c0399b7d2] Process exited with code 401
  2025-10-06 09:52:13.539 [warning] [remote-ssh] Failed to ping remote server via 127.0.0.1:57383
• Workarounds attempted (all failed): Modified settings.json with “cursor.agent.allowSystemDirs”: true, adjusted cli-config.json, removed sticky bits, restarted Cursor Server, created symbolic links, opened /var/www/ as workspace root.
• Server OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
• This appears to be a hardcoded security restriction that cannot be disabled.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[ANABOLIC_007]

Almost a day later, I found a solution. It turns out that after the update, the .cursorignore file, which had extra categories, started working again.