MCP Security Vulnerabilities in AI IDEs: MCPoison, Rules File Backdoor & More
The Model Context Protocol (MCP), introduced by Anthropic in November 2024 to connect AI assistants with external tools and data, has introduced critical security vulnerabilities affecting millions of developers. With widespread adoption across Fortune 500 companies and with GitHub’s 2024 survey finding that more than 97% of respondents have used AI coding tools at work, three major vulnerability classes now threaten development environments: MCPoison, Rules File Backdoor, and CurXecute. For organizations deploying MCP at scale, implementing a centralized MCP Gateway with proper authentication and audit controls has become essential to prevent supply chain attacks that bypass traditional code review processes.
This article breaks down each vulnerability class, explains how attackers exploit them, and provides actionable mitigation strategies that security teams can implement immediately.