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Rule Reference

SEC446lintai-ai-securitystablejsonwarn

MCP config: sudo first argument

MCP configuration passes `sudo` as the first launch argument

Provider
lintai-ai-security
Surface
json
Scope
per_file
Tier
stable
Severity
warn
Confidence
high
Detection
structural
Remediation
message_only

Activation Model

Preset Membership

This rule is part of the builtin activation graph through these preset memberships.

basemembership
mcpmembership

Lifecycle

Stable Lifecycle Contract

State

stable_gated

Graduation rationale

Matches exact MCP server launch paths that pass `sudo` as the first argv element.

Deterministic signal basis

JsonSignals exact string detection for `args[0] == "sudo"` on parsed MCP configuration objects.

Malicious corpus
mcp-args-sudo
Benign corpus
mcp-args-non-sudo-safe
structured evidence required remediation reviewed
Canonical note

Structural stable rule intended as a high-precision check with deterministic evidence.

Nearby Signals

Related Rules

SEC301MCP config: shell trampolineMCP configuration shells out through sh -c or bash -cjsonstable
SEC302Config: insecure HTTP endpointConfiguration contains an insecure http:// endpointjsonstable
SEC303MCP config: credential env passthroughMCP configuration passes through credential environment variablesjsonstable
SEC304Config: TLS verification disabledConfiguration disables TLS or certificate verificationjsonstable
SEC305Config: hardcoded auth materialConfiguration embeds static authentication material in a connection or auth valuejsonstable
SEC309Config: literal secrets in configConfiguration commits literal secret material in env, auth, or header valuesjsonstable

SEC446 / MCP-ARGS-SUDO ​

SEC446 flags MCP configuration when a committed server entry passes the exact first launch argument sudo.

Why It Matters ​

Passing sudo as the first argument still bakes privilege escalation directly into shared MCP client config, even when the top-level command field is not itself sudo.

Trigger Shape ​

The rule triggers only when all of these are true:

  • the file is parsed as MCP configuration
  • a server entry contains args[0] == "sudo"

Clean Cases ​

These stay clean:

  • non-privileged first arguments such as "server.js" or "--stdio"
  • configs where sudo appears later in the argument list but is not the launch prefix

Example Trigger ​

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "demo": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["sudo", "server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Safer Example ​

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "demo": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["server.js"]
    }
  }
}

How To Fix ​

Remove sudo from the committed MCP launch arguments and use a reviewed non-privileged server command instead.