Securing MCP: 7 Practical Policies for Single-Endpoint Authorization
pjausovec · x · 2026-08-15
Since the MCP protocol routes all operations through a single JSON-RPC endpoint, traditional path-based authorization is insufficient. This post outlines how agentgateway parses MCP payloads to enforce fine-grained access control, detailing 7 practical policies: allowlists, denylists, service account lockdown, tiered access, read-only mode, server federation, and request/response guardrails.
Authorization occurs at two stages:
- Discovery: Filters out unauthorized tools from the MCP list response before it reaches the client, keeping them out of the model's context.
- Execution: Re-authorizes every tool call, prompt retrieval, or resource read before forwarding the request.
The article includes configuration examples (e.g., restricting access to only the echo tool), demonstrating how the gateway prevents unauthorized access even if a client manually constructs a call to a hidden tool.
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