polish-academic-mcp: Skill for Claude Code

MCP Security Audit

Audit MCP server configurations for security issues — secrets exposure, shell injection, unpinned dependencies, and unapproved servers.

Overview

MCP servers give agents direct tool access to external systems. A misconfigured .mcp.json can expose credentials, allow shell injection, or connect to untrusted servers. This skill catches those issues before they reach production.

.mcp.json → Parse Servers → Check Each Server:
  1. Secrets in args/env?
  2. Shell injection patterns?
  3. Unpinned versions (@latest)?
  4. Dangerous commands (eval, bash -c)?
  5. Server on approved list?
→ Generate Report

When to Use

• Reviewing any .mcp.json file in a project
• Onboarding a new MCP server to a project
• Auditing all MCP servers in a monorepo or plugin marketplace
• Pre-commit checks for MCP configuration changes
• Security review of agent tool configurations

---

Audit Check 1: Hardcoded Secrets

Scan MCP server args and env values for hardcoded credentials.

import json
import re
from pathlib import Path

SECRET_PATTERNS = [
    (r'(?i)(api[_-]?key|token|secret|password|credential)\s*[:=]\s*["\'][^"\']{8,}', "Hardcoded secret"),
    (r'(?i)Bearer\s+[A-Za-z0-9\-._~+/]+=*', "Hardcoded bearer token"),
    (r'(?i)(ghp_|gho_|ghu_|ghs_|ghr_)[A-Za-z0-9]{30,}', "GitHub token"),
    (r'sk-[A-Za-z0-9]{20,}', "OpenAI API key"),
    (r'AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}', "AWS access key"),
    (r'-----BEGIN\s+(RSA\s+)?PRIVATE\s+KEY-----', "Private key"),
]

def check_secrets(mcp_config: dict) -> list[dict]:
    """Check for hardcoded secrets in MCP server configurations."""
    findings = []
    raw = json.dumps(mcp_config)
    for pattern, description in SECRET_PATTERNS:
        matches = re.findall(pattern, raw)
        if matches:
            findings.append({
                "severity": "CRITICAL",
                "check": "hardcoded-secret",
                "message": f"{description} found in MCP configuration",
                "evidence": f"Pattern matched: {pattern}",
                "fix": "Use environment variable references: ${ENV_VAR_NAME}"
            })
    return findings