modelcontextprotocol / modelcontextprotocol/servers
filesystem: tools/list succeeds without initialize handshake (MCP lifecycle bypass)
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 90.5k
- Forks
- 11.7k
- Avg merge
- 2d 2h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 5
Description
Describe the bug
The @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem MCP server accepts and successfully handles tools/list before the client completes the required MCP lifecycle handshake (initialize → notifications/initialized). The server returns a normal JSON-RPC result instead of rejecting the request as out-of-order.
This breaks the expected MCP session state machine: compliant clients assume that only initialize is valid until the handshake completes. Allowing other methods early can mask misconfigured clients, weaken assumptions used by security tooling, and make session-scoped state (capabilities, auth context, subscriptions) harder to reason about.
Environment
OS: Linux (Proxmox VE host)
MCP server build: ships with current Cursor Desktop (Node-based, secure-filesystem-server v0.2.0, per server log line "serverInfo":{"name":"secure-filesystem-server","version":"0.2.0"})
To Reproduce
Start the filesystem MCP server with a valid allowed directory, e.g.:
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem /tmp
Do not send initialize or notifications/initialized.
Send a JSON-RPC request for tools/list over stdio, e.g.:
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}
Observe the response.
Expected behavior
Before the MCP handshake completes, the server should:
- Reject all methods except
initialize(and any explicitly documented pre-init exceptions, if the spec allows them). - Return a structured JSON-RPC error (e.g. invalid request / server not initialized), not a successful
result. - Optionally log a clear diagnostic on stderr indicating that the client violated lifecycle ordering.
After a valid initialize + notifications/initialized sequence, tools/list should succeed as usual.
Actual behaviour
Without any prior initialize call, tools/list is executed successfully and the server returns a JSON-RPC response containing result (tool enumeration), as if the session were already initialized.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem entry point launched by npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem /tmp, reproduce the pre-initialize tools/list request, and trace its request handling. Confirm that only the documented pre-initialization methods are accepted, that an out-of-order request returns a structured error, and that initialize followed by notifications/initialized still permits tools/list.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- node.js, typescript
- Domain
- api, backend-api-design
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 55/100