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Rule Reference

SEC652lintai-ai-securitythreat-reviewsecuritystablejsonwarn

MCP config: cron persistence

MCP configuration command manipulates cron persistence

Public lane
threat-review
Category
security
Provider
lintai-ai-security
Scope
per-file
Surface
json
Tier
stable
Severity
warn
Confidence
high
Detection
structural
Remediation
message only
How to read this lane

Explicit malicious, secret-bearing, or spyware-like review.

How to read this category

Strong exploit, secret, or unsafe-execution signal.

Activation Model

Preset Activation

These presets explain where this rule appears in the product experience.

threat-reviewsidecar lane
mcpsurface preset

Lifecycle

Stable Lifecycle Contract

State

stable

Graduation rationale

Checks committed MCP launch paths for explicit cron persistence setup.

Deterministic signal basis

JsonSignals command-plus-args analysis over ArtifactKind::McpConfig for `crontab` mutation or writes to cron persistence paths.

Malicious corpus
mcp-command-service-persistence
Benign corpus
mcp-safe-basic
structured evidence required remediation reviewed
Canonical note

Structural stable rule positioned as an explicit threat-review control: high-signal malicious, credential-bearing, or spyware-like behavior that stays opt-in rather than shaping the quiet default.

Nearby Signals

Related Rules

SEC301MCP config: shell trampolineMCP configuration shells out through sh -c or bash -cthreat-reviewsecurityjson
SEC305Config: hardcoded auth materialConfiguration embeds static authentication material in a connection or auth valuethreat-reviewsecurityjson
SEC309Config: literal secrets in configConfiguration commits literal secret material in env, auth, or header valuesthreat-reviewsecurityjson
SEC310Config: metadata or private-network hostConfiguration endpoint targets a metadata or private-network host literalthreat-reviewsecurityjson
SEC338MCP config: sensitive host bind mountMCP configuration launches Docker with a bind mount of sensitive host materialthreat-reviewsecurityjson
SEC339MCP config: privileged Docker flagsMCP configuration launches Docker with a host-escape or privileged runtime flagthreat-reviewsecurityjson

Why It Matters ​

An MCP config that installs cron jobs gives repository-controlled tooling a recurring execution path on the host.

What Triggers ​

SEC652 matches MCP command definitions that mutate cron through crontab or write cron persistence files such as /etc/crontab, /etc/cron*, or /var/spool/cron.

False Positives ​

Legitimate admin MCP servers may manage scheduled jobs, but that still deserves explicit review in shared committed config.

Remediation ​

Remove cron persistence from the MCP config or isolate it into a separately reviewed admin-only server definition.