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Rule Reference

SEC652lintai-ai-securitystablejsonwarn

MCP config: cron persistence

MCP configuration command manipulates cron persistence

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 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 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 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.