Searches for users or groups in the organization by name or email.
AI agents call identity.search to retrieve information from Azure DevOps MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool performs a search query to retrieve user and group identity data. It has no side effects, does not modify data, execute code, or perform destructive operations. It is a straightforward Read operation with minimal security risk, as identity search results are typically non-sensitive organizational directory information.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'identity.search' and description 'Searches for users or groups in the organization by name or email' indicate a query operation that retrieves identity information without modifying or executing actions.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Searches for users or groups in the organization by name or email. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Azure DevOps MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Azure DevOps MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for identity.search: 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 Azure DevOps MCP Server. Nothing to install.
identity.search 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 identity.search 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 identity.search. 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.
identity.search is provided by the Azure DevOps MCP Server MCP server (varnierg/mcp-for-azure-devops). 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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