lintai docs

Appearance

Rule Reference

SEC666lintai-ai-securitystablejsonwarn

MCP config: Linux capability manipulation

MCP configuration command manipulates Linux capabilities

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 Linux capability manipulation payloads.

Deterministic signal basis

JsonSignals command-plus-args analysis over ArtifactKind::McpConfig for `setcap` or dangerous Linux capability tokens such as `cap_setuid` and `cap_sys_admin`.

Malicious corpus
mcp-command-privilege-escalation-payloads
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 ​

Linux capabilities such as cap_setuid and cap_sys_admin can grant elevated power through shared MCP launch paths.

What Triggers ​

SEC666 matches MCP command definitions that run setcap or include dangerous capability tokens such as cap_setuid, cap_setgid, cap_sys_admin, or cap_net_admin.

False Positives ​

Capability management may be intentional in privileged admin tooling, but it is still a sensitive host privilege change that merits explicit review.

Remediation ​

Remove Linux capability manipulation from the MCP config and keep capability assignment in a dedicated reviewed administrative path.