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Rule Reference

SEC674lintai-ai-securitystablejsonwarn

MCP config: secret exfiltration

MCP configuration command appears to send secret material over the network

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 secret-bearing network exfil payloads.

Deterministic signal basis

JsonSignals command-plus-args analysis over ArtifactKind::McpConfig for secret markers combined with network-capable command context.

Malicious corpus
mcp-command-secret-exfil-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 ​

Committed MCP launch commands should not forward credentials or secret tokens to remote endpoints as part of their normal startup path.

What Triggers ​

SEC674 matches MCP command and args combinations that mix secret markers such as OPENAI_API_KEY, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, bearer auth, or cookie material with a network-capable command path.

False Positives ​

This rule is intentionally narrow to committed launch commands. If a server legitimately uses auth to talk to its own backend, move that logic inside the server process rather than baking secret sends into the shared launcher.

Remediation ​

Remove the secret-bearing network send from the committed MCP launch path and keep secret handling inside the target service or provider-local configuration.