Pentesting MCP Checklist
A practical, community-driven checklist for pentesting MCP servers. Covers traffic analysis, tool-call behavior, namespace abuse, auth flows, and remote server risks. Maintained by Appsecco and licensed for remixing.
What is Pentesting MCP Checklist?
Pentesting MCP Checklist is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to practical, community-driven checklist for pentesting mcp servers. covers traffic analysis, tool-call behavior, namespace abuse, auth flows, and remote server risks. maintained by appsecco and licensed...
A practical, community-driven checklist for pentesting MCP servers. Covers traffic analysis, tool-call behavior, namespace abuse, auth flows, and remote server risks. Maintained by Appsecco and licensed for remixing.
This server falls under the Security category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- A practical, community-driven checklist for pentesting MCP s
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx pentesting-mcp-servers-checklistConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Pentesting MCP Checklist
The Pentesting MCP Servers Checklist is a community-driven security assessment resource maintained by Appsecco that provides practitioners with a structured, field-ready checklist for evaluating the security posture of MCP server deployments. It covers 13 assessment categories including traffic analysis, authentication and authorization flows, tool injection, namespace abuse, secret handling, and advanced attacks against both local and remote MCP servers. Security engineers and red teams use it as a living reference to systematically audit MCP-based AI systems for real-world vulnerabilities.
Prerequisites
- Familiarity with MCP (Model Context Protocol) architecture — local servers, remote servers, STDIO and HTTP bridge transports
- A target MCP server environment set up for assessment (local binary, Docker container, or remote endpoint)
- Standard penetration testing tooling: traffic interceptor (Burp Suite, mitmproxy), CLI tools for inspecting stdio, and an LLM client for triggering tool calls
- Git to clone the repository and access the CHECKLIST.md
Clone the checklist repository
Clone the Appsecco repository to get the latest version of CHECKLIST.md and any supporting scripts.
git clone https://github.com/appsecco/pentesting-mcp-servers-checklist.git
cd pentesting-mcp-servers-checklistReview the 13 assessment categories
Open CHECKLIST.md and familiarize yourself with the full scope: traffic analysis, authentication and authorization, file and code review, tool behavior and functionality, input validation, output and schema validation, tool injection, file system and network access, context isolation, secret and credential handling, logging and monitoring, race conditions, and advanced attacks.
Perform traffic analysis
Intercept traffic between the MCP client and server using a proxy or stdio inspector. Look for unencrypted data, sensitive information in tool call arguments, and unexpected outbound connections.
Test authentication and authorization flows
Verify that the server enforces authentication on all tools, check for missing authorization controls on sensitive operations, and attempt to access resources without valid credentials.
Test for tool injection and namespace abuse
Attempt to inject malicious content through tool parameters that could alter LLM behavior. Check for namespace collisions between multiple MCP servers registered to the same client.
Fork and adapt the checklist for your context
Fork the repository to maintain a customized version of the checklist tailored to your organization's specific MCP deployments and threat model. The checklist is licensed for remixing.
gh repo fork appsecco/pentesting-mcp-servers-checklistPentesting MCP Checklist Examples
Client configuration
Example MCP client config for attaching a test MCP server you want to pentest locally.
{
"mcpServers": {
"target-server": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/path/to/target-mcp-server/index.js"],
"env": {}
}
}
}Prompts to try
Example prompts for guiding an AI assistant through MCP security assessments using the checklist.
- "Help me work through the traffic analysis section of the MCP pentesting checklist for this server"
- "What authentication checks should I perform on a remote MCP server that uses HTTP transport?"
- "Explain how tool injection attacks work against MCP servers and what to look for"
- "List the checks for secret and credential handling in MCP server assessments"
- "What are the risks of namespace abuse when multiple MCP servers are registered to the same client?"Troubleshooting Pentesting MCP Checklist
Unable to intercept stdio traffic between MCP client and server
Wrap the server command with a stdio logger or tee to capture the bidirectional stream. For HTTP transport, configure your proxy as an upstream proxy for the MCP client process.
Tool injection payloads are not reaching the LLM
Ensure the injection is placed in a field that the server returns to the LLM as part of tool output, not just in a parameter the server validates and discards. Check schema validation behavior documented in the checklist's output validation section.
Frequently Asked Questions about Pentesting MCP Checklist
What is Pentesting MCP Checklist?
Pentesting MCP Checklist is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that practical, community-driven checklist for pentesting mcp servers. covers traffic analysis, tool-call behavior, namespace abuse, auth flows, and remote server risks. maintained by appsecco and licensed for remixing. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Pentesting MCP Checklist?
Follow the installation instructions on the Pentesting MCP Checklist GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Pentesting MCP Checklist?
Pentesting MCP Checklist works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Pentesting MCP Checklist free to use?
Yes, Pentesting MCP Checklist is open source and available under the CC-BY-4.0 license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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