modelcontextprotocol / modelcontextprotocol/typescript-sdk

OAuth token exchange fails with URL-encoded responses - assumes JSON format only

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#759 4 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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auth bug fix proposed P2 ready for work
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Description

** Describe the bug **
The exchangeAuthorization() function in client/auth.js assumes OAuth token responses are always in JSON format and calls response.json() directly. However, many OAuth providers (including GitHub) return token responses in URL-encoded format (application/x-www-form-urlencoded), causing token exchange to fail with a JSON parsing error.

** Steps to reproduce the behavior: **
Set up OAuth authentication with GitHub's MCP server (https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp)
Register a GitHub OAuth app and configure pre-registered credentials
Complete the authorization flow successfully (Step 1 works fine)
Attempt token exchange in Step 2 of the OAuth flow
Observe JSON parsing error when GitHub returns URL-encoded token response

** Expected behavior **
The SDK should handle both common OAuth token response formats:
JSON format: {"access_token": "...", "token_type": "bearer", "scope": "..."}
URL-encoded format: access_token=...&token_type=bearer&scope=...
The token exchange should succeed regardless of which format the OAuth provider uses.

Logs

🔍 Token URL: https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token
🔍 Response Text: access_token=gho_oB*****************************&scope=gist%2Cnotifications%2Cpublic_repo&token_type=bearer

❌ SyntaxError: Unexpected token 'a', "access_tok"... is not valid JSON
    at JSON.parse (<anonymous>)
    at exchangeAuthorization (file://client/auth.js:335:41)

** Additional context **
OAuth Standards: Both response formats are valid according to OAuth 2.0/2.1 specifications. Different providers use different formats.
GitHub Behavior: GitHub's OAuth token endpoint returns URL-encoded responses by default, but does provide valid JSON when the new Accept request header is added. Not all oAuth servers will respect the Accept header though.

Current SDK Code (line ~325 in client/auth.js):

const response = await fetch(tokenUrl, {
       method: "POST",
       headers: {
           "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
       },
       body: params,
   });
   if (!response.ok) {
       throw new Error(`Token exchange failed: HTTP ${response.status}`);
   }
   return OAuthTokensSchema.parse(await response.json()); // ❌ Assumes JSON

** Suggested Fix **

const response = await fetch(tokenUrl, {
       method: "POST",
       headers: {
           "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
           "Accept": "application/json", // ✅ Request JSON response
       },
       body: params,
   });
   if (!response.ok) {
       throw new Error(`Token exchange failed: HTTP ${response.status}`);
   }
   
   // ✅ Handle both JSON and URL-encoded responses
   const responseText = await response.text();
   let tokenData;
   try {
       tokenData = JSON.parse(responseText);
   } catch (jsonError) {
       // Fallback to URL-encoded parsing
       const urlParams = new URLSearchParams(responseText);
       tokenData = {
           access_token: urlParams.get("access_token"),
           token_type: urlParams.get("token_type"),
           scope: urlParams.get("scope"),
           refresh_token: urlParams.get("refresh_token"),
           expires_in: urlParams.get("expires_in") ? parseInt(urlParams.get("expires_in")) : undefined,
       };
   }
   
   return OAuthTokensSchema.parse(tokenData);

This issue can be reproduced using GitHub's MCP server at https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp with proper GitHub OAuth app credentials. NOTE: There is a related issue with GitHubs oAuth where by it does not expose it's oAuth info on .well-known/oauth-authorization-server, but rather returns a resource_metadata="https://api.githubcopilot.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp" param in the www-authenticate field (see #758)

** Impact **
This affects compatibility with any OAuth provider that returns URL-encoded token responses, making the SDK incompatible with a significant portion of OAuth servers.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in client/auth.js at exchangeAuthorization(), where the issue identifies the direct response.json() call. Reproduce the exchange against GitHub's token endpoint if credentials are available, then verify handling for both JSON and URL-encoded responses. Done means OAuthTokensSchema.parse succeeds for either format without breaking the existing HTTP error handling.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
api, authentication
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
74/100

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