As a ubuntu server user, but also having used RHEL, rocky linux, Alma Linux, Fedora, it is important to hopefully give more insights since any linux user, regardless of the distro, has to some extent the same problems you face.
Google electron app, or any chromium based browser, has an insane amount of telemetry embedded into it. Let’s make it simple:
all electron/chromium app share the same ipc crashpad handler by default. Flathub is a mockery of sandboxing and all these apps share telemtry IDs about a lot of usage data. It is a huge attack vector that an attacker can exploit, then spillover flathub through many gnome app (you didn’t knew they had GnomeControleCenter, Dbus access, Keyring etc by default on flathub so you think you are sandboxing app leaving a highway to your core system wide open as to escalate to root access ?)
all electron has a shared cookie jar if you do not firejail and/or apparmor/selinux it. Even then it will sandbox some processes of cursorAI, while others are unsandboxed. Look for --zygote (sanboxed), --no-zygote (unsandboxed). CursorAI’s privacy statement by no mean addresses this issue but it is important to assess VScode does as well.
auto-updaters will happily phone home insane amounts of telemetry, even if you deactivate it, it still runs without you knowing. Here you have an electron leftover of cursors’ built-in terminal running again and again. And until you reboot, it will continue because electron has this behavior of leaky leftover processes running even if you stop cursor.
It can literally read memory, leaks everything, and any gnome user is a target of massive telemetry
What you see is an unfortunate proof of how bloated, persistent, and poorly designed electron is. My advice is to use only cursor as electron app, firejail it, and keep in mind any electron based app unfortunately behaves exactly the same way… The more you have on your system, the more your attack surface and telemetry collection surface becomes.
I do hope it brings some help and hopefully some clarity about your problem.