MCP - Security best practice critique: agent loops and MCP

Security best practice critique: agent loops and MCP servers are over-provisioned with excessive permissions (write access, production secrets, broad filesystem) when minimal scoped access (lookup, dev data, docs search) would suffice.

Updated: 5/24/2026
high Severity
Status: active

Description

The loop had a write tool when it only needed lookup. The shell had production secrets when it only needed dev data. The MCP server exposed a broad filesystem when it only needed docs search.

Impact

Security best practice critique: agent loops and MCP servers are over-provisioned with excessive permissions (write access, production secrets, broad filesystem) when minimal scoped access (lookup, dev data, docs search) would suffice.

Attack Vectors

  • write tool
  • lookup tool
  • shell
  • filesystem access

Mitigation

    Sources