Search messages from a specific sender with optional date range. Auto-connects if not already connected.
AI agents call search_by_sender to retrieve information from Mcp Mail Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool queries email messages by sender criteria and returns results. It performs no write, deletion, execution of code, or financial operations. However, severity is 'medium' rather than 'low' because email can contain sensitive personal or business information; an AI agent querying arbitrary senders could expose confidential messages, creating moderate privacy and information disclosure risk.
From the tool's definition Tool description states it 'Search[es] messages from a specific sender' — a retrieval operation with no modification. Sibling tools like 'delete_message' and 'get_attachments' are separate, confirming this tool only reads.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Search messages from a specific sender with optional date range. Auto-connects if not already connected. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Mcp Mail Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Mcp Mail Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for search_by_sender: 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 Mail Server. Nothing to install.
search_by_sender 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 search_by_sender 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 search_by_sender. 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.
search_by_sender is provided by the Mcp Mail Server MCP server (mcp-mail-server). 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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