mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Enterprise-Grade Security for the Model Context Protocol (MCP): Frameworks and Mitigation Strategies

arXiv 2504.08623 ↗First posted 11 Apr 2025cs.CR cs.AIcited by 42

Not on the map. Why?

Cited by 35 in LLM agents and tool use, but placed by its own abstract, which didn’t fit.

Abstract (arXiv)

The Model Context Protocol (MCP), introduced by Anthropic, provides a standardized framework for artificial intelligence (AI) systems to interact with external data sources and tools in real-time. While MCP offers significant advantages for AI integration and capability extension, it introduces novel security challenges that demand rigorous analysis and mitigation. This paper builds upon foundational research into MCP architecture and preliminary security assessments to deliver enterprise-grade mitigation frameworks and detailed technical implementation strategies. Through systematic threat modeling and analysis of MCP implementations and analysis of potential attack vectors, including sophisticated threats like tool poisoning, we present actionable security patterns tailored for MCP implementers and adopters. The primary contribution of this research lies in translating theoretical security concerns into a practical, implementable framework with actionable controls, thereby providing essential guidance for the secure enterprise adoption and governance of integrated AI systems.

Key facts. Cited by 42 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 1 of its 15 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 11 Apr 2025.

Builds on

1 of 15 references.

References · 1

  1. 2025Model Context Protocol (MCP): Landscape, Security Threats, and Future Research Directionscited by 265

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Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 26; 2026: 16.

42 papers.

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  1. 2025From Prompt Injections to Protocol Exploits: Threats in LLM-Powered AI Agents Workflowscited by 58
  2. 2025MCPSecBench: A Systematic Security Benchmark and Playground for Testing Model Context Protocolscited by 51
  3. 2025Agentic Web: Weaving the Next Web with AI Agentscited by 45
  4. 2025MPMA: Preference Manipulation Attack Against Model Context Protocolcited by 34
  5. 2025A Novel Zero-Trust Identity Framework for Agentic AI: Decentralized Authentication and Fine-Grained Access Controlcited by 28
  6. 2025Agent Name Service (ANS): A Universal Directory for Secure AI Agent Discovery and Interoperabilitycited by 23
  7. 2025AgentBound: Securing Execution Boundaries of AI Agentscited by 23
  8. 2025MCPXKIT: The Unified Toolkit for Analyzing Model Context Protocol Securitycited by 21
  9. 2025ETDI: Mitigating Tool Squatting and Rug Pull Attacks in Model Context Protocol (MCP) by using OAuth-Enhanced Tool Definitions and Policy-Based Access Controlcited by 20
  10. 2025Beyond the Protocol: Unveiling Attack Vectors in the Model Context Protocol (MCP) Ecosystemcited by 19
  11. 2025Securing GenAI Multi-Agent Systems Against Tool Squatting: A Zero Trust Registry-Based Approachcited by 18
  12. 2025Automatic Red Teaming LLM-based Agents with Model Context Protocol Toolscited by 18
30 more
  1. 2025RAS-Eval: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Security Evaluation of LLM Agents in Real-World Environmentscited by 17
  2. 2025Systematization of Knowledge: Security and Safety in the Model Context Protocol Ecosystemcited by 16
  3. 2025We Urgently Need Privilege Management in MCP: A Measurement of API Usage in MCP Ecosystemscited by 15
  4. 2026Security Threat Modeling for Emerging AI-Agent Protocols: A Comparative Analysis of MCP, A2A, Agora, and ANPcited by 15
  5. 2025From Glue-Code to Protocols: A Critical Analysis of A2A and MCP Integration for Scalable Agent Systemscited by 14
  6. 2025Semantic Attacks on Tool-Augmented LLMs: Securing the Model Context Protocol Against Descriptor-Level Manipulationcited by 13
  7. 2025Building A Secure Agentic AI Application Leveraging A2A Protocolcited by 9
  8. 2025Takedown: How It's Done in Modern Coding Agent Exploitscited by 6
  9. 2025Red-Teaming Coding Agents from a Tool-Invocation Perspective: An Empirical Security Assessmentcited by 5
  10. 2026Toward Securing AI Agents Like Operating Systemscited by 5
  11. 2025Simplified and Secure MCP Gateways for Enterprise AI Integrationcited by 4
  12. 2025COALESCE: Economic and Security Dynamics of Skill-Based Task Outsourcing Among Team of Autonomous LLM Agentscited by 4
  13. 2025Agent Capability Negotiation and Binding Protocol (ACNBP)cited by 4
  14. 2025Help or Hurdle? Rethinking Model Context Protocol-Augmented Large Language Modelscited by 3
  15. 2026From Tool Orchestration to Code Execution: A Study of MCP Design Choicescited by 3
  16. 2026A Formal Security Framework for MCP-Based AI Agents: Threat Taxonomy, Verification Models, and Defense Mechanismscited by 3
  17. 2026Invisible Threats from Model Context Protocol: Generating Stealthy Injection Payload via Tree-based Adaptive Searchcited by 2
  18. 2025Towards Humanoid Robot Autonomy: A Dynamic Architecture Integrating Continuous thought Machines (CTM) and Model Context Protocol (MCP)cited by 1
  19. 2025Zero-Knowledge Audit for Internet of Agents: Privacy-Preserving Communication Verification with Model Context Protocolcited by 1
  20. 2026From Secure Agentic AI to Secure Agentic Web: Challenges, Threats, and Future Directionscited by 1
  21. 2026MCP-in-SoS: Risk assessment framework for open-source MCP serverscited by 1
  22. 2026ChainWatch: A Kill Chain-Aligned Sequential Detection Framework for Multi-Step Attacks in MCP-Based AI Agent Systemscited by 1
  23. 2026Understanding How Enterprises Adopt the Model Context Protocol for LLM-Driven Software Engineeringcited by 0
  24. 2026AONA: A Comprehensive Architecture and Workflow Design for Global Agentic Collaborationcited by 0
  25. 2026From Legacy Documentation to OSCAL: An MCP-Based Agent Pipeline for Threat-Informed Continuous Compliance in Critical Infrastructurecited by 0
  26. 2026Hardware Keystores for AI Agent Signing Workflows: A Zero-Trust MCP Enforcement Architecturecited by 0
  27. 2026When Agents Act on Web3: An Attack-Surface Survey of MCP, Skills, and Tool Callingcited by 0
  28. 2026AEGIS: Preventing Cross-Domain Resource Abuse in MCPcited by 0
  29. 2026TrustShiftProbe: Characterizing, Benchmarking, and Defending Staged Trust Attacks on MCP Serverscited by 0
  30. 2026Closed-World Resolution Against Tool Hallucination in LLM Agentscited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025Securing the Model Context Protocol (MCP): Risks, Controls, and Governance
  2. 2025MCP Guardian: A Security-First Layer for Safeguarding MCP-Based AI System
  3. 2025Model Context Protocol (MCP) at First Glance: Studying the Security and Maintainability of MCP Servers
  4. 2025MCP Safety Audit: LLMs with the Model Context Protocol Allow Major Security Exploits
  5. 2025MCPGuard : Automatically Detecting Vulnerabilities in MCP Servers
  6. 2026Model Context Protocol Threat Modeling and Analyzing Vulnerabilities to Prompt Injection with Tool Poisoning
  7. 2026MCP-DPT: A Defense-Placement Taxonomy and Coverage Analysis for Model Context Protocol Security
  8. 2026Compatibility at a Cost: Systematic Discovery and Exploitation of MCP Clause-Compliance Vulnerabilities