mcp-vanguard 1.1.3

Security proxy and verification layer for the Model Context Protocol (MCP)

🛡️ McpVanguard

The Interception & Verification Layer for MCP Agents

McpVanguard is an open-source security proxy and active firewall for the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It acts as a real-time "Reflex System" between AI agents and their tools, protecting the host system from malicious intent, prompt injection, and data exfiltration.

Part of the Provnai Open Research Initiative — Building the Immune System for AI.

No changes to your agent. No changes to your server. Just wrap it.

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⚡ Quickstart

📖 Full Railway Deployment Guide

# 1. Install
pip install mcp-vanguard

# 2. Start as a Cloud Security Gateway (SSE)
# Set an API key to protect your endpoint
export VANGUARD_API_KEY="your-secret-key"
vanguard sse --server "npx @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem ."

# 3. Traditional Stdio Wrap (no network, no auth needed)
vanguard start --server "npx @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem ."

# 4. Enable VEX Flight Recorder (Immutable Audit)
export VANGUARD_VEX_URL="https://api.vexprotocol.com"
export VANGUARD_VEX_KEY="your-agent-jwt"
vanguard sse --server "..." --behavioral

# 5. Sync latest threat signatures from GitHub
vanguard update

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🧠 The Interception Layer

McpVanguard sits at the Interception Layer of the Provnai stack. It prevents the gap between Cognitive Intent (what the agent thinks) and Environmental Execution (what actually happens to your PC).

3-Layer Defense-in-Depth

Layer	Component	Defense Mechanism	Latency (P99)
L1	Static Rules	80+ security signatures across 5 categories	~16ms
L2	Semantic Intelligence	Local Ollama LLM intent classification	Async
L3	Behavioral Analysis	Sliding-window anomaly detection (Scraping/Enum)	Stateful

🚀 Performance (Scale Verified)

McpVanguard is designed for high-concurrency production environments. Our latest benchmarks show:

• Throughput: 240+ requests/second.
• Security Overhead: <20ms (Layer 1).
• Stability: Zero packet loss or state corruption across 5,000+ request bursts.

Rule Categories (Layer 1)

• Filesystem: Path traversal, null bytes, restricted roots (/etc/, ~/.ssh/), Cyrillic homograph detection.
• Command: Pipe-to-shell, reverse shells, semicolon/&&/newline command chaining, expansion bypasses.
• Network: SSRF, cloud metadata endpoints (AWS/GCP/Azure), IPv6 and hex/octal encoded IPs.
• Jailbreak: Prompt extraction, instruction-ignore patterns, unicode hidden characters.
• Privilege: SUID binary creation, LD_PRELOAD injection, crontab manipulation.

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🛡️ VEX Protocol Integration (Flight Recorder)

McpVanguard integrates natively with the VEX Protocol. Whenever the proxy blocks a malicious action (L1/L2/L3), it instantly sends a background report to the VEX API.

The VEX Server cryptographically hashes the blocked intent, runs it through the CHORA Gate, and anchors an immutable receipt (PoE) to the Bitcoin blockchain.

Auditors can mathematically prove exactly why an agent was blocked without relying entirely on local log trust.

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🏗️ How It Works

                    ┌─────────────────────────────┐         ┌──────────────┐
     AI Agent       │     McpVanguard Proxy        │        │   VEX API    │
  (Claude, GPT)     │                             │──Async─▶│ (CHORA Gate) │
        │           │  ┌──────────────────────┐   │         └──────────────┘
        │──JSON-RPC▶│  │  L1: Rules Engine    │   │                │
        │           │  │  L2: Semantic Scorer  │   │                ▼
        │           │  │  L3: Behavioral Logic │   │      [Bitcoin Anchor]
        │           │  └──────────────────────┘   │
        │◀─ BLOCK ──│        or ALLOW ───────────▶│      MCP Server
        │  (Status  │                             │ (filesystem, shell...)
        │   Code)   └─────────────────────────────┘

Traffic is inspected on every message, in both directions. Blocked messages return a standard JSON-RPC error response — the server never sees the attack.

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🗺️ Project Status

Phase	Goal	Status
Phase 1	Foundation (Proxy, CLI, Defensive Rules)	✅ DONE
Phase 2	Intelligence (L2 Semantic, L3 Behavioral Scaling)	✅ DONE
Phase 3	Flight Recorder (VEX & CHORA Integration)	✅ DONE
Phase 4	Distribution (v1.0.0 Stable, PyPI, WSL Verified)	✅ DONE
Phase 5	Production Hardening (v1.1.3 stability & Telemetry)	✅ DONE

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📚 Resources

• Full Documentation
• Ecosystem Report
• Contributing Guide
• Deployment Guide
• Architecture

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📄 License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.

Built by the Provnai Open Research Initiative. "Verifying the thoughts and actions of autonomous agents."