fix(mcp): add validation to block dangerous environment variables
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Add defense-in-depth security validation for stdio transport to reject
environment variables that could be used for privilege escalation attacks.
Blocks the following dangerous variables (case-insensitive):
- LD_PRELOAD (Linux)
- LD_LIBRARY_PATH (Linux)
- DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES (macOS)
- DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH (macOS)
- DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH (macOS)
- DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH (macOS)

These variables can inject malicious libraries into spawned processes and
should never be user-configurable for MCP servers.

Add comprehensive tests:
- test_rejects_relative_path: Verify existing path validation
- test_rejects_dangerous_env_vars: Test all blocked variables
- test_rejects_dangerous_env_vars_case_insensitive: Verify lowercase variants blocked
- test_allows_safe_env_vars: Verify legitimate vars (DEBUG, PATH, API_KEY) allowed

All tests passing.
This commit is contained in:
Shaun Arman 2026-06-01 12:16:11 -05:00
parent 82d7f350db
commit 2ad87b4c78

View File

@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ use tokio::process::Command;
/// Build a stdio transport from a command path, argument list, and environment variables.
/// Rejects relative paths to prevent path traversal.
/// Validates environment variable names to block known privilege escalation vectors.
pub fn build_stdio_transport(
command: &str,
args: &[String],
@ -16,6 +17,26 @@ pub fn build_stdio_transport(
));
}
// Validate env var names to block dangerous variables that could be used for privilege escalation
const DANGEROUS_ENV_VARS: &[&str] = &[
"LD_PRELOAD",
"LD_LIBRARY_PATH",
"DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES",
"DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH",
"DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH",
"DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH",
];
for key in env.keys() {
let upper_key = key.to_uppercase();
if DANGEROUS_ENV_VARS.contains(&upper_key.as_str()) {
return Err(format!(
"Dangerous environment variable '{key}' is not allowed for security reasons. \
This variable could be used for privilege escalation attacks."
));
}
}
let mut cmd = Command::new(command);
cmd.args(args);
@ -26,3 +47,77 @@ pub fn build_stdio_transport(
TokioChildProcess::new(cmd).map_err(|e| format!("Failed to spawn stdio process: {e}"))
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
use super::*;
#[test]
fn test_rejects_relative_path() {
let result = build_stdio_transport("./mcp-server", &[], HashMap::new());
assert!(result.is_err());
if let Err(e) = result {
assert!(e.contains("absolute path"));
}
}
#[test]
fn test_rejects_dangerous_env_vars() {
let dangerous_vars = vec![
"LD_PRELOAD",
"LD_LIBRARY_PATH",
"DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES",
"DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH",
"DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH",
"DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH",
];
for var in dangerous_vars {
let mut env = HashMap::new();
env.insert(var.to_string(), "malicious.so".to_string());
let result = build_stdio_transport("/usr/bin/test", &[], env);
assert!(result.is_err(), "Should reject {}", var);
if let Err(err) = result {
assert!(
err.contains("Dangerous environment variable"),
"Error should mention dangerous variable: {}",
err
);
}
}
}
#[test]
fn test_rejects_dangerous_env_vars_case_insensitive() {
let mut env = HashMap::new();
env.insert("ld_preload".to_string(), "malicious.so".to_string());
let result = build_stdio_transport("/usr/bin/test", &[], env);
assert!(result.is_err());
if let Err(err) = result {
assert!(err.contains("Dangerous environment variable"));
}
}
#[test]
fn test_allows_safe_env_vars() {
let mut env = HashMap::new();
env.insert("DEBUG".to_string(), "1".to_string());
env.insert("API_KEY".to_string(), "secret123".to_string());
env.insert("PATH".to_string(), "/usr/bin".to_string());
// Note: This will fail to spawn since /usr/bin/test may not exist,
// but we're testing that it doesn't reject the env vars
let result = build_stdio_transport("/usr/bin/test", &[], env);
// Should fail with spawn error, not env var validation error
if let Err(err) = result {
assert!(
!err.contains("Dangerous environment variable"),
"Should not reject safe env vars, got: {}",
err
);
}
}
}