The MCP Security Checklist

A practical checklist for securing Model Context Protocol deployments. Use it during design review, before production, or after adding a new MCP server.

Download PDF checklistUpdated July 2026

Server Inventory & Trust

Review these controls regularly. They apply to every MCP server, client, and gateway in your environment.

Maintain a list of every MCP server your agents connect to. Verify the publisher or maintainer of each server. RiskReview the source code or trusted audit report before connecting third-party servers. Avoid installing MCP servers from unverified community repositories. Risk

Authentication

Review these controls regularly. They apply to every MCP server, client, and gateway in your environment.

Every MCP connection uses authenticated sessions, not static tokens in config files. RiskTokens are stored in a secrets manager or OS keychain, not plaintext. OAuth scopes are limited to the minimum required actions. ImportantPer-client consent is enforced on the server side, not just in the client UI.

Authorization & Scope

Review these controls regularly. They apply to every MCP server, client, and gateway in your environment.

Each MCP tool has a documented permission scope. Agents cannot call high-risk tools without explicit approval. RiskTool permissions are reviewed when the server updates. A gateway or policy layer enforces deny-by-default for new tools. Important

Input & Output Validation

Review these controls regularly. They apply to every MCP server, client, and gateway in your environment.

Tool arguments are validated before execution. Tool responses are inspected for embedded instructions or prompt-injection payloads. RiskLarge or unexpected responses are rate-limited or truncated.

Monitoring & Logging

Review these controls regularly. They apply to every MCP server, client, and gateway in your environment.

Every tool call is logged with caller identity, arguments, and result metadata. Logs are shipped to a SIEM or centralized log platform. Anomalies trigger alerts (new servers, unusual argument patterns, high failure rates). Important

Runtime Isolation

Review these controls regularly. They apply to every MCP server, client, and gateway in your environment.

MCP servers run in a sandboxed process or container. Network egress from MCP servers is restricted. Local filesystem access is denied unless explicitly required.

Incident Response

Review these controls regularly. They apply to every MCP server, client, and gateway in your environment.

There is a runbook for revoking an MCP server. Compromised tokens can be rotated in under 15 minutes. Tool call logs are retained long enough to support forensics.

Put this checklist to work

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The MCP Security Checklist

Server Inventory & Trust

Authentication

Authorization & Scope

Input & Output Validation

Monitoring & Logging

Runtime Isolation

Incident Response

Put this checklist to work

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