mcpscanner

Security scanner for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Finds vulnerabilities before attackers do.

Install

# One-liner (macOS / Linux)
curl -fsSL https://install.mcpscanner.dev/install.sh | sh

Other methods:

# Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew install mcpscanner/tap/mcpscanner

# From source (requires Go 1.24+)
go install github.com/mcpscanner/cli@latest

# Or download a binary directly from GitHub Releases
# https://github.com/mcpscanner/cli/releases

# Scoop (Windows)
scoop bucket add mcpscanner https://github.com/mcpscanner/scoop-bucket
scoop install mcpscanner

Usage

# Scan an MCP server
mcpscanner scan https://your-mcp-server.com/mcp

# JSON output
mcpscanner scan https://your-mcp-server.com/mcp --format json

# Save HTML report
mcpscanner scan https://your-mcp-server.com/mcp --format html --output report.html

# With auth token
mcpscanner scan https://your-mcp-server.com/mcp --token "sk-your-token"

# Interactive mode
mcpscanner scan --interactive

# Scan internal/private IPs (disabled by default for safety)
mcpscanner scan http://192.168.1.100:8080/mcp --allow-internal

# Scan a config file (Claude Desktop / Cursor format)
mcpscanner scan --config ~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json

# Quiet mode (no progress spinner)
mcpscanner scan https://your-mcp-server.com/mcp --no-progress --format json

What it checks

Tool Analysis

• Tool enumeration via JSON-RPC 2.0
• Filesystem, code execution, database, and network tool detection
• Path and URL parameter identification
• Input validation analysis (missing constraints)
• Excessive tool exposure (>20 tools)

Authentication

• Unauthenticated access detection
• Default/weak credential testing (test, admin, password, etc.)

Transport Security

• Missing TLS (plain HTTP)
• CORS misconfiguration (wildcard, origin reflection)

Active Probing

• Path traversal (../../etc/passwd)
• Command injection (; id, | whoami)
• SQL injection (' OR '1'='1)
• SSRF (cloud metadata endpoints)
• Prompt injection reflection

Rate Limiting

• Burst request testing (20 rapid requests)

Self-Protection

• SSRF guard blocks scanning internal IPs, loopback, link-local, and cloud metadata endpoints
• Response size cap (10 MB)
• Tool count cap (500)
• No-redirect policy
• Defensive schema normalization

Scoring

Score = 100 - (Critical x 40) - (High x 15) - (Medium x 5) - (Low x 1)

A = 90+  |  B = 80+  |  C = 70+  |  D = 50+  |  F = <50

Output Formats

Format	Flag	Description
Text	--format text	Human-readable terminal output (default)
JSON	--format json	Structured JSON for CI/CD integration
HTML	--format html	Standalone HTML report with dark theme

Flags

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--format	-f	text	Output format: text, json, html
--output	-o	stdout	Write report to file
--timeout	-t	60	HTTP timeout in seconds
--token			Auth token (sent as Bearer)
--config	-c		Scan MCP server config file (mcpServers JSON)
--no-progress		false	Disable live progress display
--interactive	-i	false	Interactive mode
--allow-internal		false	Allow scanning private IPs

Development

# Run tests
go test ./...

# Run tests with race detector
go test -race ./...

# Build
go build -o mcpscanner .

# Vet
go vet ./...

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.

About

MCP Scanner CLI is the open-source command-line interface for MCP Scanner, built by codelake Technologies LLC (an Akyros Labs brand).

Visit mcpscanner.dev.