journal

Read systemd journal logs.

SERVERMcp Control Plane SOURCEalbertik322-sudo/mcp-control-plane

Low RISK CLASS

Category Read

Parameters 00 required

Recommended Allowedsee the rule below

Registry record Grade F, identity unverified Pull the record →

This record as markdown: /tools/mcp-control-plane/journal.md

WHAT IT DOES

What journal does on Mcp Control Plane

AI agents call journal to retrieve information from Mcp Control Plane without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

RISK

Why journal is rated Low

This tool queries and retrieves systemd journal log entries. It has no side effects—it neither creates, modifies, deletes, nor executes operations. The action is purely observational and informational. Severity is low because journal logs are typically system diagnostics and may contain sensitive information, but the impact of unauthorized read access is limited compared to write, execute, or destructive operations.

From the tool's definition Tool name 'journal' combined with description 'Read systemd journal logs' explicitly indicates retrieval of existing log data with the verb 'Read' and no modification capability.

Attacks that exploit this kind of access

RECOMMENDED RULE

The rule that runs journal safely

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Mcp Control Plane, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For journal, this is the rule to start with:

journal Allowed

journal is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

View as policy code

policy.json

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "journal": {}
  }
}

ALLOW ONLY THIS TOOL → Instant setup, no code required.

The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Mcp Control Plane, apply this rule, and every journal call is checked against it from then on.

FAQ

Questions about journal

What does the journal tool do? +

Read systemd journal logs. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Mcp Control Plane MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on journal? +

Register the Mcp Control Plane MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for journal: 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 Mcp Control Plane. Nothing to install.

What risk level is journal? +

journal is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit journal? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the journal 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.

How do I block journal completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for journal. 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.

What MCP server provides journal? +

journal is provided by the Mcp Control Plane MCP server (albertik322-sudo/mcp-control-plane). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

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