MCP Server Security

DeployStack Backend implements a comprehensive input validation system to protect against security threats when users configure MCP servers. This validation occurs before any data is stored in the database, serving as the first line of defense. For satellite-side validation (defense-in-depth), see Satellite MCP Server Security.

Overview

Users can configure MCP servers with custom arguments, environment variables, HTTP headers, and query parameters. Without validation, these inputs could enable:

Command injection: Executing arbitrary commands via malicious args
nsjail sandbox bypass: Using -- to terminate nsjail arguments
Library injection: Setting LD_PRELOAD or NODE_OPTIONS to load malicious code
Header injection: CRLF injection for HTTP response splitting
Shell metacharacter attacks: Using ;, |, & for command chaining

The validation library prevents all these attack vectors through strict allowlists and blocklists.

Validation Library Architecture

The security validation library is located at services/backend/src/lib/security/:

services/backend/src/lib/security/
├── index.ts           # Re-exports all validators
├── common.ts          # Shared types (ValidationResult, ValidationErrorDetails)
├── stdioValidator.ts  # Command and argument validation
├── envValidator.ts    # Environment variable validation
└── httpValidator.ts   # Headers and query params validation

ValidationResult Interface:

interface ValidationResult {
  valid: boolean;
  error?: string;
  details?: ValidationErrorDetails;
}

interface ValidationErrorDetails {
  type: 'BLOCKED_PATTERN' | 'INVALID_FORMAT' | 'BLOCKED_KEY' | 'BLOCKED_VALUE' | 'INVALID_COMMAND';
  index?: number;
  key?: string;
  value?: string;
  reason: string;
}

Command Validation (Stdio)

Only specific commands are allowed to spawn MCP servers. Absolute paths are rejected to prevent arbitrary command execution. Allowed Commands (strict allowlist):

Command	Use Case
`npx`	Node.js package execution
`node`	Direct Node.js execution
`uvx`	Python UV package execution
`python`	Python 2 execution
`python3`	Python 3 execution

Rejected Patterns:

Absolute paths (/bin/bash, /usr/bin/node)
Any command not in the allowlist

File Reference: services/backend/src/lib/security/stdioValidator.ts

export const ALLOWED_COMMANDS = new Set(['npx', 'node', 'uvx', 'python', 'python3']);

export function validateCommand(command: string): ValidationResult {
  // Reject absolute paths
  if (command.startsWith('/') || command.startsWith('\\')) {
    return invalidResult('Absolute paths not allowed');
  }
  // Check allowlist
  if (!ALLOWED_COMMANDS.has(command.toLowerCase())) {
    return invalidResult(`Command '${command}' not allowed`);
  }
  return validResult();
}

Argument Validation

Arguments are validated against both a blocklist (dangerous patterns) and an allowlist (valid characters).

Blocked Patterns

Pattern	Reason
`--`	nsjail argument terminator (critical sandbox bypass)
`;`	Shell command separator
`&`	Background/chaining operator
`\|`	Pipe operator
`	Backtick command substitution
`$(`	Command substitution
`${`	Parameter expansion
`../`	Path traversal
`--user`, `--group`, `--rlimit`, etc.	nsjail configuration flags
`-R`, `-B`, `-E`, `-T`, `-M`	nsjail short flags

Valid Argument Pattern

All arguments must match this pattern:

^[a-zA-Z0-9@/_.\-=:#]+$

Allowed characters:

Alphanumeric: a-z, A-Z, 0-9
Package name characters: @, /, _, ., -
Flag characters: =, :
Git refs: #

Valid examples:

-y, --verbose, --port=3000
@modelcontextprotocol/server-sequential-thinking
github:user/repo#abc123def

Limits

Constraint	Value
Max argument length	500 characters
Max argument count	100

Environment Variable Validation

Environment variables are validated to prevent library and code injection attacks.

Blocked Environment Variables

These variables are blocked because they can be exploited for code injection: Linux Dynamic Linker:

LD_PRELOAD - Shared library injection (most dangerous)
LD_LIBRARY_PATH - Library search path hijacking
LD_AUDIT, LD_DEBUG, LD_PROFILE - Various injection vectors

Node.js Specific:

NODE_OPTIONS - Can inject --require, --inspect, etc.
NODE_PATH - Module resolution hijacking
NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS - CA certificate injection

Python Specific:

PYTHONSTARTUP - Executes script on interpreter start
PYTHONPATH - Module resolution hijacking
PYTHONHOME - Installation path hijacking

Shell Injection:

BASH_ENV - Executed on non-interactive bash start
ENV - Executed on sh start
SHELL - Default shell override

Path Manipulation:

PATH, HOME, TMPDIR, TMP, TEMP
IFS - Shell word splitting manipulation

Key Format Validation

Environment variable keys must follow POSIX naming:

^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$

Limits

Constraint	Value
Max key length	256 characters
Max value length	32 KB
Max env var count	100

File Reference: services/backend/src/lib/security/envValidator.ts

The blocked environment variables list is synchronized between backend and satellite to ensure consistent protection across both validation layers.

HTTP Header Validation

HTTP headers are validated to prevent header injection and request smuggling attacks.

Blocked Headers

These headers cannot be set by users:

Header	Reason
`host`	Request routing manipulation
`content-length`	Request smuggling
`transfer-encoding`	Request smuggling
`connection`	Connection hijacking
`keep-alive`	Connection manipulation
`upgrade`	Protocol switching
`expect`	Request behavior manipulation
`proxy-*`	Proxy attacks
`te`, `trailer`	Transfer encoding manipulation

Header Key Validation

Keys must match HTTP token format:

^[A-Za-z0-9\-]+$

Header Value Validation

Values are checked for CRLF injection:

No carriage return (\r)
No line feed (\n)
No null bytes (\x00)

Limits

Constraint	Value
Max key length	256 characters
Max value length	8 KB
Max header count	50

File Reference: services/backend/src/lib/security/httpValidator.ts

Query Parameter Validation

URL query parameters have similar validation to headers.

Key Validation

^[A-Za-z0-9_\-]+$

Value Validation

No control characters (\x00-\x1f)

Limits

Constraint	Value
Max key length	256 characters
Max value length	2 KB
Max param count	50

Build Script Validation (GitHub Deployments)

For GitHub deployments, build scripts are validated before accepting the deployment to prevent arbitrary code execution during npm install or npm run build. File Reference: services/backend/src/lib/security/build-script-validation.ts

Blocked Patterns in Build Scripts

Pattern	Reason
`curl`, `wget`, `nc`, `netcat`, `telnet`	Network exfiltration
`bash -c`, `sh -c`, `zsh -c`	Arbitrary shell execution
`node -e`, `python -c`, `eval()`	Code execution from string
`base64 -d`, piped base64	Obfuscation techniques
`$VAR \|`, `echo $VAR >`	Environment variable exfiltration
`rm -rf /`, `chmod 777`	Dangerous system operations
`os.system()`, `subprocess.*()`	Python command execution

Node.js Validation

import { validateNodeScripts } from '../lib/security/build-script-validation';

// Validates package.json scripts object
const validation = validateNodeScripts(packageJson.scripts);
if (!validation.valid) {
  return { valid: false, error: validation.error, step: 'validate_build_scripts' };
}

Python Validation

import { validatePythonProject } from '../lib/security/build-script-validation';

// Blocks projects with setup.py (can run arbitrary code during pip install)
// Also checks pyproject.toml for build hooks
const validation = validatePythonProject(pyprojectContent, hasSetupPy);

Python-Specific Blocks:

setup.py existence (can execute arbitrary code during install)
[tool.hatch.build.hooks] (custom build hooks)
[tool.setuptools.cmdclass] (command class overrides)

Build script validation is mirrored in the satellite for defense-in-depth. See Satellite MCP Server Security.

JSON Schema Constraints

In addition to programmatic validation, JSON schemas provide early rejection at the Fastify validation layer. File Reference: services/backend/src/routes/mcp/installations/schemas.ts

team_args: {
  type: 'array',
  items: {
    type: 'string',
    maxLength: 500,
    pattern: '^[a-zA-Z0-9@/_\\.\\-=:#]+$'
  },
  maxItems: 100
}

team_env: {
  type: 'object',
  additionalProperties: { type: 'string', maxLength: 32768 },
  maxProperties: 100,
  propertyNames: {
    pattern: '^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$',
    maxLength: 256
  }
}

team_headers: {
  type: 'object',
  additionalProperties: { type: 'string', maxLength: 8192 },
  maxProperties: 50,
  propertyNames: {
    pattern: '^[A-Za-z0-9\\-]+$',
    maxLength: 256
  }
}

JSON schema validation provides a first layer of defense at the HTTP request level. The programmatic validators provide deeper checks including blocklist matching and pattern analysis.

API Integration

Validation is applied in the following API routes:

Route	Validations Applied
`POST /teams/:teamId/mcp/installations`	args, env, headers, query params
`PUT /teams/:teamId/mcp/installations/:id`	args, env
`PATCH .../installations/:id/args`	args
`PATCH .../installations/:id/environment-variables`	env
`PATCH .../installations/:id/headers`	headers
`PATCH .../installations/:id/query-params`	query params
`POST /teams/:teamId/deploy`	template_args, team_env

Integration Pattern:

// Before any database operation
if (installationData.team_args?.length > 0) {
  const argsValidation = validateArgs(installationData.team_args);
  if (!argsValidation.valid) {
    request.log.warn({
      operation: 'security_validation',
      validationType: 'team_args',
      error: argsValidation.error,
      details: argsValidation.details
    }, 'Security validation failed');

    return reply.status(400).send({
      success: false,
      error: argsValidation.error
    });
  }
}

Error Response Format

When validation fails, the API returns a 400 status with details:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Argument at index 2 contains blocked pattern: nsjail argument terminator not allowed"
}

Security validation failures are logged with full context for audit purposes:

operation: "security_validation"
validationType: "team_args"
error: "Argument at index 2 contains blocked pattern"
details: {
  type: "BLOCKED_PATTERN",
  index: 2,
  value: "--",
  reason: "nsjail argument terminator not allowed"
}

Satellite MCP Server Security - Defense-in-depth validation
MCP Configuration Architecture - Three-tier configuration system
Security Policy - Overall backend security
Security and Privacy - User-facing security documentation

Basics

Advanced

API

Database

Auth

Satellite

Overview

Validation Library Architecture

Command Validation (Stdio)

Argument Validation

Blocked Patterns

Valid Argument Pattern

Limits

Environment Variable Validation

Blocked Environment Variables

Key Format Validation

Limits

HTTP Header Validation

Blocked Headers

Header Key Validation

Header Value Validation

Limits

Query Parameter Validation

Key Validation

Value Validation

Limits

Build Script Validation (GitHub Deployments)

Blocked Patterns in Build Scripts

Node.js Validation

Python Validation

JSON Schema Constraints

API Integration

Error Response Format

Basics

Advanced

API

Database

Auth

Satellite

​Overview

​Validation Library Architecture

​Command Validation (Stdio)

​Argument Validation

​Blocked Patterns

​Valid Argument Pattern

​Limits

​Environment Variable Validation

​Blocked Environment Variables

​Key Format Validation

​Limits

​HTTP Header Validation

​Blocked Headers

​Header Key Validation

​Header Value Validation

​Limits

​Query Parameter Validation

​Key Validation

​Value Validation

​Limits

​Build Script Validation (GitHub Deployments)

​Blocked Patterns in Build Scripts

​Node.js Validation

​Python Validation

​JSON Schema Constraints

​API Integration

​Error Response Format

​Related Documentation

Overview

Validation Library Architecture

Command Validation (Stdio)

Argument Validation

Blocked Patterns

Valid Argument Pattern

Limits

Environment Variable Validation

Blocked Environment Variables

Key Format Validation

Limits

HTTP Header Validation

Blocked Headers

Header Key Validation

Header Value Validation

Limits

Query Parameter Validation

Key Validation

Value Validation

Limits

Build Script Validation (GitHub Deployments)

Blocked Patterns in Build Scripts

Node.js Validation

Python Validation

JSON Schema Constraints

API Integration

Error Response Format

Related Documentation