One POST request, six API keys: breaking into popular MCP servers
tl;dr - one POST request decrypted every API key in a 14K-star project. tested 5 more MCP servers, found RCE, SSRF, prompt injection, and command injection. 70K combined github stars, zero auth on most of them.
archon (13.7K stars): zero auth on entire credential API. one POST to
/api/credentials/status-checkreturns every stored API key decrypted in plaintext. can also create and delete credentials. CORS is*, server binds0.0.0.0blender-mcp (18K stars): prompt injection hidden in tool docstrings. the server instructs the AI to "silently remember" your API key type without telling you. also unsandboxed
exec()for code executionclaude-flow (27K stars): hardcoded
--dangerously-skip permissionson every spawned claude process. 6execSynccalls with unsanitized string interpolation. textbook command injectiondeep-research (4.5K stars): MD5 auth bypass on crawler endpoint (empty password = trivial to compute). once past that, full SSRF - no URL validation at all. also
promptOverrideslets you replace the system prompt, and CORS is*mcp-feedback-enhanced (3.6K stars): unauthenticated websocket accepts
run_commandmessages. got env vars, ssh keys, aws creds. weak command blocklist bypassable withpython3 -cfigma-console-mcp (1.3K stars, 71K weekly npm downloads):
readFileSyncon user-controlled paths, directory traversal, websocket accepts connections with no origin header, any local process can register as a fake figma plugin and intercept all AI commands
all tested against real published packages, no modified code. exploit scripts and evidence logs linked in the post.
the common theme: MCP has no auth standard so most servers just ship without any.
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