Search SBIR/STTR firms (small businesses receiving federal R&D funding). Find innovative companies by keyword, name, or location.
AI agents call search_sbir_firms to retrieve information from SBA MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool queries a database of publicly available SBIR/STTR firm information and returns matching results. It performs read-only operations (search and lookup) without creating, modifying, deleting, executing code, or committing financial transactions. The blast radius of misuse is minimal—an attacker could only retrieve information already in the public SBA database.
From the tool's definition Tool description explicitly states "Search SBIR/STTR firms" and "Find innovative companies by keyword, name, or location." The verb "search" combined with "find" indicates data retrieval with no modification or execution. No side effects are described.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Search SBIR/STTR firms (small businesses receiving federal R&D funding). Find innovative companies by keyword, name, or location. It is categorised as a Read tool in the SBA MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the SBA MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for search_sbir_firms: 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 SBA MCP Server. Nothing to install.
search_sbir_firms 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_sbir_firms 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_sbir_firms. 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_sbir_firms is provided by the SBA MCP Server MCP server (shawndrake2/mcp-sba). 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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