Pubmed Search — the complete, unedited output of the deterministic mcptrustchecker engine v1.13.0, scanned . Every finding, capability tag and score component below is exactly what the engine produced — no AI, no post-processing.
{
"tool": {
"name": "mcptrustchecker",
"version": "1.13.0",
"methodologyVersion": "mcptrustchecker-1.13"
},
"target": {
"id": "pubmed-search-mcp",
"source": {
"kind": "package",
"origin": "pubmed-search-mcp"
},
"server": {
"name": "pubmed-search-mcp"
}
},
"grade": "A",
"score": {
"score": 93,
"threatScore": 100,
"grade": "A",
"band": "A",
"categorySubtotals": {
"injection": 0,
"exfiltration": 0,
"permissions": 0,
"supply-chain": 0,
"network": 0,
"hygiene": 0
},
"vector": [
{
"kind": "client",
"term": "capability-exposure",
"level": "high",
"label": "capability blast radius (high) — client exposure if the model is manipulated",
"appliedPenalty": 6
},
{
"kind": "client",
"term": "verification-discount",
"level": "repo",
"label": "publisher verification (public source) — no provenance, but the source is public and inspectable",
"appliedPenalty": 1
},
{
"kind": "client",
"term": "coverage-honesty",
"level": "source",
"label": "inspection depth (source) — how much of the target the scan could see",
"appliedPenalty": 0
}
],
"gatesFired": [],
"methodologyVersion": "mcptrustchecker-1.13"
},
"capability": {
"level": "high",
"reasons": [
"ingests untrusted external content (a prompt-injection entry point)",
"can execute shell commands or code"
],
"tags": [
"untrusted-input",
"code-exec"
]
},
"coverage": {
"level": "source",
"inputs": {
"toolSurface": true,
"implementationSource": true,
"packageMetadata": true,
"liveTransport": false
},
"caveats": [
"Tools were statically extracted from the published source (40 recovered), not enumerated from a running server. Tool-poisoning, Unicode-smuggling, capability and toxic-flow analysis ran on this inferred surface, but a mis-parsed registration could be missed or mis-attributed, so tool-derived findings are capped below “confirmed”. To grade the real runtime surface, scan the running server: --command \"npx -y <package>\"."
]
},
"findings": [
{
"ruleId": "MTC-SRC-002",
"title": "Shell/command execution in server code (src/pubmed_search/presentation/mcp_server/server.py)",
"category": "permissions",
"severity": "high",
"confidence": "strong",
"description": "In the server's implementation (`src/pubmed_search/presentation/mcp_server/server.py:402`): Spawning a shell/process is command-execution capability; with unsanitized tool input it is command injection / RCE. This is read from the code itself — not from the tool description — so a poisoned server cannot hide it behind honest-looking metadata.",
"remediation": "Review this call path: confirm it never receives unsanitized tool input, constrain it, or remove it. Treat a server whose code reaches these sinks as high-capability regardless of what its tools claim.",
"location": {
"kind": "server",
"name": "src/pubmed_search/presentation/mcp_server/server.py"
},
"evidence": "try: result = subprocess.run( # noqa: S603 [git, \"config\", \"user.email\"], capture_out",
"owasp": "LLM05:2025 Improper Output Handling",
"data": {
"rule": "MTC-SRC-002",
"file": "src/pubmed_search/presentation/mcp_server/server.py",
"line": 402,
"nonRuntime": false
}
},
{
"ruleId": "MTC-SRC-005",
"title": "Dynamic module load from a non-literal (src/pubmed_search/infrastructure/sources/clinicalkey_ai.py)",
"category": "permissions",
"severity": "medium",
"confidence": "heuristic",
"description": "In the server's implementation (`src/pubmed_search/infrastructure/sources/clinicalkey_ai.py:203`): Loading a module chosen at runtime (from a variable) can pull in and run attacker-influenced code paths. This is read from the code itself — not from the tool description — so a poisoned server cannot hide it behind honest-looking metadata.",
"remediation": "Review this call path: confirm it never receives unsanitized tool input, constrain it, or remove it. Treat a server whose code reaches these sinks as high-capability regardless of what its tools claim.",
"location": {
"kind": "server",
"name": "src/pubmed_search/infrastructure/sources/clinicalkey_ai.py"
},
"evidence": "NICALKEY_AI_DATA_POLICY.require(SourceDataOperation.DIRECT_REQUEST) if self._config.enabled is not True:",
"owasp": "LLM05:2025 Improper Output Handling",
"data": {
"rule": "MTC-SRC-005",
"file": "src/pubmed_search/infrastructure/sources/clinicalkey_ai.py",
"line": 203,
"nonRuntime": false
}
},
{
"ruleId": "MTC-SUP-012",
"title": "Package has no license",
"category": "hygiene",
"severity": "info",
"confidence": "strong",
"description": "\"pubmed-search-mcp\" has no declared license. This is a legal/reuse concern, not a security finding.",
"location": {
"kind": "package",
"name": "pubmed-search-mcp"
}
}
],
"toxicFlows": [],
"capabilities": [
{
"tool": "read_session",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "build_research_chronicle",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "read_research_chronicle",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "build_citation_tree",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "find_related_articles",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "find_citing_articles",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_article_references",
"tags": [
"untrusted-input"
],
"reasons": {
"untrusted-input": [
"keyword \"fetch\""
]
}
},
{
"tool": "fetch_article_details",
"tags": [
"untrusted-input"
],
"reasons": {
"untrusted-input": [
"keyword \"fetch\""
]
}
},
{
"tool": "get_citation_metrics",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_fulltext",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_text_mined_terms",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "prepare_export",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "save_literature_notes",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_article_figures",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "convert_icd_mesh",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "search_biomedical_images",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "search_gene",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_gene_details",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_gene_literature",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "search_compound",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_compound_details",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_compound_literature",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "search_clinvar",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "configure_institutional_access",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_institutional_link",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "list_resolver_presets",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "test_institutional_access",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "diagnose_institutional_access",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "validate_pico_plan",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "save_pipeline",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "list_pipelines",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "load_pipeline",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "delete_pipeline",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "get_pipeline_history",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "schedule_pipeline",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "unschedule_pipeline",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "verify_reference_list",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "generate_search_queries",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "unified_search",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
},
{
"tool": "analyze_search_query",
"tags": [],
"reasons": {}
}
],
"surfaceDigest": "756bc4829c033af3823ca1b4d9d0d4ab5be423b0eb5ca7f5651323bc9ea02089",
"stats": {
"tools": 40,
"prompts": 0,
"resources": 0,
"findingsBySeverity": {
"critical": 0,
"high": 1,
"medium": 1,
"low": 0,
"info": 1
}
}
}