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PROTO

MCP Tool Manifest

Model Context Protocoltool registryschema validation

An MCP Tool Manifest is the structured, machine-readable declaration of an MCP server's available tools — their names, input schemas, and capability metadata.

MANIFEST TAMPERING AND SHADOW TOOLS

A compromised server may serve a fraudulent manifest, advertising safe tools while providing write-capable 'shadow tools'. This bypasses allowlist-based enforcement if the allowlist is derived from the server.

PROTOCOL CONTEXT (MCP / MCPVANGUARD)

MCP's tools/list response provides manifests at connection time. McpVanguard intercepts this response and cross-validates it against an operator-provided, signed tool allowlist.

ProvnAI Mitigation

ProvnAI operators define tool manifests using a signed YAML schema. McpVanguard enforces the operator manifest as the authoritative source, making server-side manifest tampering detectable and ineffective.