whois
AI agents call whois to retrieve information from MCP Agent Mail without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
A 'whois' tool on an agent coordination system most likely retrieves identity information about agents or projects without modifying state. Even if it queries sensitive identity data, the operation is read-only with no side effects. The low blast radius (information disclosure risk, not code execution or data destruction) justifies 'low' severity.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'whois' is a traditional DNS/identity lookup utility. The server description emphasizes 'provides identities' and 'searchable history', suggesting this tool queries agent identities or metadata.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
whois. It is categorised as a Read tool in the MCP Agent Mail MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the MCP Agent Mail MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for whois: 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 Agent Mail. Nothing to install.
whois 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 whois 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 whois. 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.
whois is provided by the MCP Agent Mail MCP server (omelchmichael/mcp_agent_mail). 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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