MCP-Taxonomy

# MCP Security Taxonomy **A common language for securing agentic AI connections, context, and capability.** Open, vendor-neutral classification of MCP security risks, weaknesses, attack patterns, controls, detections, and test cases for the [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) ecosystem. Start with the complete reference: **[MCP-SECURITY-TAXONOMY-COMPLETE.md](MCP-SECURITY-TAXONOMY-COMPLETE.md)** It is a single, combined document covering glossary, design principles, taxonomy structure, framework mappings, CVE-aligned tags, and external crosswalks. Maintained and curated by [Vandana Verma Sehgal](https://github.com/vermava) ## Complete reference (sections) The combined document includes, in order: 1. **MCP relationship map** — host, client, server, transport, and backend boundaries 2. **Design principles** — taxonomy patterns, 11-domain model, entry quality bar, anti-patterns 3. **Glossary** — MCP terms, AI security terms, and AppSec terms used across MCP security 4. **Common confusions** — host vs client vs server, tool vs resource vs prompt, injection families, CVE vs CWE vs CVSS vs EPSS 5. **Taxonomy overview** — legacy 7-domain grouping for high-level risk navigation 6. **OWASP MCP Top 10 mapping** — MCP01–MCP10 with examples, impacts, and controls 7. **Root cause (weakness family) taxonomy** — CVE-aligned tags such as `INJ-CMD`, `PATH-TRAV`, `SSRF`, `AUTH-BYPASS`, `X-TENANT` 8. **External references** — MCP-38, MCPShield, MCPSecBench, MCP-DPT, community standards, and practitioner guides ## Who this is for - **Security engineers** threat-modeling MCP hosts, clients, servers, and gateways - **Developers** building or integrating MCP servers and tools - **GRC and compliance teams** mapping MCP risks to OWASP, CWE, NIST CSF, ISO 27001, and related frameworks - **Researchers** comparing MCP taxonomies (MCP-38, MCPShield, MCPSecBench, MCP-DPT)