AI agents invoke outdated to trigger actions in Http. What it does depends on the arguments the agent supplies, and its effects often reach beyond the immediate call — builds kicked off, notifications sent, workflows started.
The description is truncated to just 'Runs', which strongly implies command execution. Given the sibling tools (add-package, bazel, ansible-playbook, audit), this tool likely runs a CLI command to list outdated packages. It appears to be a read-like operation but is categorized as Execute because it runs an external process.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'outdated' and description only says 'Runs' (truncated/uninformative). In the context of a package management environment (alongside tools like add-package, audit, ansible-galaxy, bazel), 'outdated' likely executes a command to check for outdated…
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access outdated gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Http, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for outdated:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"outdated": {
"limits": [
{
"counter": "outdated_rate",
"window": "minute",
"max": 10,
"scope": "grant"
}
]
}
}
}outdated stays usable, but rate-capped — a runaway agent can't fire it dozens of times a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Runs. It is categorised as a Execute tool in the Http MCP Server, which means it can trigger actions or run processes. Use rate limits and argument validation.
Register the Http MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for outdated: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Http. Nothing to install.
outdated is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the outdated rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for outdated. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
outdated is provided by the Http MCP server (@paretools/http). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Http, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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202 Http tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.