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ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Detecting MCP Tool Poisoning and Rug-Pull Attacks in LLM Agent Architectures

Authors: Jain, Gunjan;

Detecting MCP Tool Poisoning and Rug-Pull Attacks in LLM Agent Architectures

Abstract

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) enables LLM agents to invoke external tools, creating a new attack surface where malicious tool definitions can manipulate agent behavior. We present an 8-check MCP tool poisoning detection system that identifies hidden instructions, excessive permissions, exfiltration endpoints, shadowed tool names, obfuscated parameters, shell metacharacter injection, sensitive data scope violations, and a novel class of rug-pull attacks -- where tools behave benignly during testing but activate malicious payloads after establishing trust. We formalize the rug-pull threat model, describe detection heuristics based on temporal behavior analysis and conditional execution patterns, and evaluate the detector against a corpus of benign and adversarial tool definitions. Our system operates as drop-in Express middleware, enabling real-time scanning of tool registrations before they reach the LLM agent.

Keywords

rug-pull attacks, tool poisoning, MCP, prompt injection, LLM agents, agentic AI security

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average