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2. Privilege Escalation

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2. Privilege Escalation

MCP Servers are often deployed quickly in test environments, sometimes running with root or overly permissive privileges. If compromised, the attacker can escalate to:

  • System compromise: Full access to host OS.
  • Credential theft: Access to API keys, secrets, or tokens.
  • Container escape: Moving out of Docker/VM environments into the host.

Risk: Once root access is gained, every connected tool, database, or security platform may be exposed.

Mitigation:

  • Always run MCP processes as non-root users.
  • Use containers or sandboxes with strict capability drops.

Apply resource limits (cgroups, namespaces) to minimize blast radius.

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