Get related articles for a given PubMed article (PMID), ranked by relevance using NCBI
AI agents call get_related to retrieve information from Mcp Pubmed without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool performs a lookup/retrieval operation against the PubMed database to discover related research articles. It has no side effects, does not modify any data, does not execute code, and does not move money. The worst-case misuse scenario is retrieving information about articles unrelated to the user's stated intent, which poses minimal security risk. This is a standard Read category tool.
From the tool's definition The tool 'get_related' retrieves related articles for a given PubMed ID, ranked by relevance. The description explicitly states it 'Get[s] related articles' with no mention of modification, deletion, or execution of commands.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Get related articles for a given PubMed article (PMID), ranked by relevance using NCBI. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Mcp Pubmed MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Mcp Pubmed MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_related: 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 Pubmed. Nothing to install.
get_related 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 get_related 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 get_related. 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.
get_related is provided by the Mcp Pubmed MCP server (petrefiedthunder/mcp-pubmed). 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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