Discover services running on all known devices in the network.
AI agents call discover_services to retrieve information from Network Scanner MCP without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
The tool performs network discovery and service enumeration (fingerprinting), which are information-gathering activities with no side effects. However, severity is elevated to 'medium' rather than 'low' because detailed service enumeration can inform threat actors about attack surface and exploitable services, creating moderate risk if an AI agent misuses it to map vulnerable infrastructure in an unauthorized…
From the tool's definition Tool description states 'Discover services running on all known devices' — a read-only query operation that retrieves service information without modifying, executing, or deleting data. No mutation or code execution is indicated.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Discover services running on all known devices in the network. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Network Scanner MCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Network Scanner MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for discover_services: 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 Network Scanner MCP. Nothing to install.
discover_services is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the discover_services 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 discover_services. 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.
discover_services is provided by the Network Scanner MCP server (marc-shade/network-scanner-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Every MCP server has a record like this.
Type a name, get the same breakdown: verified identity, auth posture, risk grade, capabilities, recommended policy.
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