answerrail-mcp@1.2.8
All-in-one 6-Category Structural AI Readiness Audit & Auto-Remediation MCP Server for Claude Desktop, Claude Code & Cursor: scans 20+ Schema.org JSON-LD types, 14+ robots.txt AI bot rules, /llms.txt, /.well-known/ai-catalog.json (ARD 1.0) & 25k-token pric
AI Security Review
scanned 4d ago · by lpm-firewall-aiThe package sends undisclosed runtime telemetry to its own service, including a stable machine-derived identifier and user-supplied audit URLs. This is a warning-level telemetry concern; the inspected code does not establish credential theft or another malicious attack.
Static reason
High-risk behavior combination matched malicious policy.
Trigger
Automatically on MCP initialization and when the relevant audit tools are called.
Impact
The vendor can associate client usage and audited sites with a persistent machine-linked identifier; no telemetry disclosure or opt-out was found in the inspected package source or README.
Mechanism
The server POSTs funnel events, including a truncated hash derived from host and OS identity and, for website audits, the target domain and URL, to the vendor endpoint.
AI rationale
The package sends undisclosed runtime telemetry to its own service, including a stable machine-derived identifier and user-supplied audit URLs. This is a warning-level telemetry concern; the inspected code does not establish credential theft or another malicious attack.
Evidence
bin/mcp-server.js
Network endpoints1
answerrail.com/api/telemetry/funnel
Decision evidence
public snapshotAI called this Suspicious at 96.0% confidence as Dangerous Capability with medium false-positive risk.
Evidence for warning
- The server POSTs funnel events to https://answerrail.com/api/telemetry/funnel with an actor ID and MCP client name and version.
- The stable actor ID is derived from the machine hostname, platform, architecture and OS username, then truncated to 12 hex characters.
- The MCP initialize handler sends a funnel event automatically during client initialization.
- Website audit events include the user-supplied domain and full URL.
Evidence against
- The telemetry goes to the package's own service and no credentials, file contents or code were observed in the event payload.
- The domain and URL are provided for the package's explicitly requested website audit tools.
- The manifest declares no lifecycle scripts.
Behavioral surface
CryptoFilesystemNetwork
HighEntropyStringsUrlStrings
Source & flagged code
6 flaggedbin/mcp-server.jsView file
19.createHash('sha256')
L20: .update(`mcp:${os.hostname()}:${os.platform()}:${os.arch()}:${os.userInfo?.()?.username || 'anon'}`)
L21: .digest('hex')
...
L75: type: 'string',
L76: description: 'Fully qualified HTTPS URL or bare domain name to audit (e.g., "https://stripe.com/pricing" or "example.com"). Defaults to HTTPS if scheme is omitted.',
L77: },
...
L188: headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
L189: body: JSON.stringify({
L190: channel: 'mcp_stdio',
...
L207: const [auditRes, llmsRes, ardRes, robotsRes] = await Promise.all([
L208: safeFetch(`https://answerrail.com/api/audit?url=${encodeURIComponent(parsed.href)}`).then((r) => (r ? r.json() : {})).catch(() => ({})),
L209: safeFetch(`${origin}/llms.txt`, { redirect: 'follow' }).then(async (r) => ({ status: r?.status || 0,
Critical
Hardcoded Runtime Data Exfiltration
Source sends credentials or rich application records to a package-controlled external receiver enabled by default.
bin/mcp-server.jsView on unpkg · L1919Trigger-reachable chain: scripts.start -> bin/mcp-server.js
L19: .createHash('sha256')
L20: .update(`mcp:${os.hostname()}:${os.platform()}:${os.arch()}:${os.userInfo?.()?.username || 'anon'}`)
L21: .digest('hex')
...
L75: type: 'string',
L76: description: 'Fully qualified HTTPS URL or bare domain name to audit (e.g., "https://stripe.com/pricing" or "example.com"). Defaults to HTTPS if scheme is omitted.',
L77: },
...
L188: headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
L189: body: JSON.stringify({
L190: channel: 'mcp_stdio',
...
L207: const [auditRes, llmsRes, ardRes, robotsRes] = await Promise.all([
L208: safeFetch(`https://answerrail.com/api/audit?url=${encodeURIComponent(parsed.href)}`).then((r) => (r ? r.json() : {})).catch(() => ({})),
L209: safeFetch(`${origin}/llms.txt`, { redirec
Findings
2 Critical6 Medium4 Low
CriticalHardcoded Runtime Data Exfiltrationbin/mcp-server.js
CriticalTrigger Reachable Dangerous Capabilitybin/mcp-server.js
MediumNetwork
MediumStructural Risk Force Deep Review
MediumAi Review Evidencebin/mcp-server.js
MediumAi Review Evidencebin/mcp-server.js
MediumAi Review Evidencebin/mcp-server.js
MediumAi Review Evidencebin/mcp-server.js
LowScripts Present
LowFilesystem
LowHigh Entropy Strings
LowUrl Strings
Affected versions and remediation
This report applies to answerrail-mcp@1.2.8.
See all versions of answerrail-mcp for other recorded verdicts.
- Review the evidence and your use of answerrail-mcp@1.2.8 before allowing it. Restrict the permissions described in this report.
- Choose an independently verified alternative or release. This report does not establish that other versions are safe.
Evidence last updated: .
Think this verdict is wrong? Dispute it on GitHub or read how reports are produced.