lintai docs

Appearance

Rule Reference

SEC639lintai-ai-securitystablejsonwarn

MCP config: shell profile write

MCP configuration command writes to a shell profile startup file

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

Checks committed MCP launch paths for explicit writes to shell startup profile files.

Deterministic signal basis

JsonSignals command-plus-args analysis over ArtifactKind::McpConfig using redirection-or-tee targeting of `.bashrc`, `.bash_profile`, `.zshrc`, or `.profile`.

Malicious corpus
mcp-command-persistence-escalation
Benign corpus
mcp-safe-basic
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

Why It Matters ​

An MCP launcher that edits shell startup files can establish persistence outside the repository and affect future terminal sessions.

What Triggers ​

SEC639 matches MCP command definitions that write to .bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, or .profile, either through redirection in a command string or through tee plus a matching target path in structured args.

False Positives ​

Dotfile-management systems are the main exception, but shared MCP launch config is generally the wrong place to mutate host startup files.

Remediation ​

Remove the startup-file write from the MCP config. Prefer repo-local state or an explicit, separately reviewed install step for host shell configuration.