Fetch the latest news stories from sellthenews.org, including editorially pinned stories
AI agents call get_recent_news to retrieve information from Sellthenews without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and queries financial news data with no side effects, state modifications, or execution of external operations. It is purely informational. The read-only nature of the server and the retrieval-only functionality of fetching news stories clearly place this in the Read category. Severity is low because accessing news data poses minimal risk even if misused by an AI agent.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'get_recent_news' fetches news stories; server description explicitly states 'read-only MCP server' with access to 'retrieve real-time news feeds'. The description contains no write, execute, delete, or financial transaction capabilities.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Fetch the latest news stories from sellthenews.org, including editorially pinned stories. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Sellthenews MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Sellthenews MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_recent_news: 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 Sellthenews. Nothing to install.
get_recent_news 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_recent_news 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_recent_news. 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_recent_news is provided by the Sellthenews MCP server (swl007007/sellthenews_mcp). 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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