AI agents invoke detect-services to trigger actions in Nmap. What it does depends on the arguments the agent supplies, and its effects often reach beyond the immediate call — builds kicked off, notifications sent, workflows started.
Service detection involves actively probing remote hosts and open ports to fingerprint running services, which constitutes an external operation with network effects. While it is primarily a reconnaissance activity (Read-like), actively sending probes to external systems constitutes execution of network operations against potentially unauthorized targets, making Execute the most appropriate category.
From the tool's definition Tool is part of an nmap-mcp server described as enabling 'service detection' among other capabilities; sibling tools include scan-ports, scan-vulnerabilities, discover-hosts, detect-os — all active network scanning operations.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access detect-services gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Nmap, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for detect-services:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"detect-services": {
"limits": [
{
"counter": "detect-services_rate",
"window": "minute",
"max": 10,
"scope": "grant"
}
]
}
}
}detect-services stays usable, but rate-capped — a runaway agent can't fire it dozens of times a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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detect-services. It is categorised as a Execute tool in the Nmap MCP Server, which means it can trigger actions or run processes. Use rate limits and argument validation.
Register the Nmap MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for detect-services: 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 Nmap. Nothing to install.
detect-services is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the detect-services 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 detect-services. 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.
detect-services is provided by the Nmap MCP server (vorota-ai/nmap-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Nmap, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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6 Nmap tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.