HighSecrets & credentialsBLWK-AI-018

An MCP server connects to a remote endpoint with a plaintext token

What this means

An MCP server connecting to a remote endpoint with a plaintext token in its config.

How to fix it

Take the token out of the config file and give it to the tool when it runs.

1. Replace the token with a reference to an environment variable, for example ${API_TOKEN} in Claude Code's .mcp.json.
2. Keep the token in a password manager and supply it at launch, for example with op run or bws run.
3. Rotate the token that was in the file, since anyone who cloned the repository could have it.
4. Make sure you trust this remote server: it sees every request your AI agent sends to it.

Check it yourself

Run a scan and look for BLWK-AI-018 in the results:

bulwark scan
bulwark ai scan

Installed the standalone CLI package instead of the app? The command is bulwarkctl.

References

• MITRE ATT&CK T1552.001
• MITRE ATT&CK T1071.001

Related checks

• A long-lived AWS access key is stored on disk · BLWK-CRED-001
• Git stores passwords and tokens in plain text · BLWK-CRED-002
• Docker registry logins are stored in the config file · BLWK-CRED-003
• A credential file can be read by other users · BLWK-CRED-004
• SSH private key is not passphrase-protected · BLWK-SSH-012
• SSH private key passphrase status could not be determined · BLWK-SSH-013