Stuck at “Waiting for extension host”

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Ever since version 2.4 me and a few other people I work with are having trouble with the Agent getting stuck with “Waiting for extension host”, then after a few seconds it times out.

This only seems to be happening when connected with Remote-SSH to a jailed linux host. If connected to a normal shell it seems to work fine.

Steps to Reproduce

Install latest version of cursor
Add Remote-SSH extension
Connect to a jailed linux host
Send any input to the agent

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 2.5.26 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 7d96c2a03bb088ad367615e9da1a3fe20fbbc6a0
Date: 2026-02-26T04:57:56.825Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.4.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Issue happens regardless of model selected

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

1 Like

Hey, thanks for the report. This looks like a known issue where the agent sandbox times out on restricted Linux environments that don’t support newer kernel features (specifically Landlock V3), instead of gracefully falling back.

A “jailed” Linux host is exactly the kind of setup where this can happen. A couple of questions to confirm:

  • What kind of jail is this? chroot, nsjail, a Docker container, or something else?
  • What’s the kernel version on the remote host? Run uname -r
  • Can you check if Landlock is supported? Run cat /sys/kernel/security/lsm and see if it lists landlock.

The team is aware of this specific Remote-SSH plus restricted Linux scenario. No ETA yet, but your report helps with prioritization.

As a temporary workaround, try switching to Ask mode instead of Agent mode. It doesn’t rely on the sandbox or extension host in the same way and might work for you while this is being tracked.

Let me know the kernel details and jail type.

Running in chroot jail.

uname -r → 5.4.0-216-generic

cat /sys/kernel/security/lsm is restricted → cat: /sys/kernel/security/lsm: No such file or directory

“Ask mode” has the same issue (Agent Execution Timeout).

This was previously working fine until v 2.3.35 - as soon as we upgrade to 2.4.x it stops working.

Thank you!

1 Like

It works when I reinstall cursor with version 2.3. Thanks for assisting.

1 Like

Hi,

Same problem.

Some debug data:

> uname -a
> Linux fedora 6.18.13-200.fc43.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Feb 19 19:54:01 UTC 2026 x86_64 GNU/Linux
> cat /sys/kernel/security/lsm
> lockdown,capability,yama,selinux,bpf,landlock,ipe,ima,evm

Cursor version: 2.6.11

I can also see that in Cursor settings → Rules, Skills, Subagents, everything is in “Loading Rules..”, “Loading Skills…”

I am running locally. I’ve tried disabling extensions, uninstalling Cursor and reinstalling, and removing ~/.config/Cursor/User/globalStorage/state.vscdb
and ~/.config/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage

And I keep ending up with “The agent execution provider did not respond in time. This may indicate the extension host is not running or is unresponsive.”

I’ve installed via rpm. The appimage used to have jail problems and needed a bit of tinkering to work correctly; with previous versions the rpm way seems to have worked and I would much prefer that way.

I haven’t yet tried nuking whole ~/config/Cursor. Also worth nothing that while I am not currently running a VPN, I do occasionally run over a VPN - mentioning this just in case there could be some weird cache rot going on or whatnot.

If there’s any additional debug data I can provide, please let me know!

same problem, completely different environment. periodically find myself in “waiting for extension host” and there are no other network issues on my machine at all. sometimes it clears up quickly, sometimes cursor is unusable for hours. it eventually clears up with no action whatsoever on my part.

Version: 2.6.11
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 8c95649f251a168cc4bb34c89531fae7db4bd990
Date: 2026-03-03T18:57:48.001Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.6.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 25.3.0