Medium Risk

update_catalog_category

Updates an existing service catalog category's title or description.

How to control update_catalog_category ↓

What update_catalog_category does on Snow

AI agents use update_catalog_category to create or update resources in Snow — usually the action step of a workflow, after the agent has gathered context. Every call changes real data in your Snow environment.

Medium Risk

Why update_catalog_category needs a policy

This tool creates or modifies data reversibly without deleting or destroying information. It updates metadata (title/description) of a catalog category, which is a classic Write operation. Severity is medium because misconfiguration of catalog categories could impact service offerings and user experience, but changes are reversible and lack the blast radius of Execute or Destructive operations.

From the tool's definition Tool name 'update_catalog_category' and description 'Updates an existing service catalog category's title or description' indicate modification of existing data (title/description fields) in a reversible manner.

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access update_catalog_category gives an agent:

How to control update_catalog_category

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Snow, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for update_catalog_category:

policy.json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "update_catalog_category": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "counter": "update_catalog_category_rate",
          "window": "minute",
          "max": 30,
          "scope": "grant"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

update_catalog_category stays usable, but capped — an agent stuck in a loop can't make hundreds of changes a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

  1. Create a free account and register Snow — nothing to install.
  2. Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
  3. Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.
LIMIT THIS TOOL →

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Related tools and policies

Go deeper

Questions about update_catalog_category

What does the update_catalog_category tool do? +

Updates an existing service catalog category's title or description. It is categorised as a Write tool in the Snow MCP Server, which means it can create or modify data. Consider rate limits to prevent runaway writes.

How do I enforce a policy on update_catalog_category? +

Register the Snow MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for update_catalog_category: 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 Snow. Nothing to install.

What risk level is update_catalog_category? +

update_catalog_category is a Write tool with medium risk. Write tools should be rate-limited to prevent accidental bulk modifications.

Can I rate-limit update_catalog_category? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the update_catalog_category 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 update_catalog_category completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for update_catalog_category. 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 update_catalog_category? +

update_catalog_category is provided by the Snow MCP server (shunyaai/snow-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every Snow tool call.

Start from Snow, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.

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88 Snow tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.

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