Forward an existing email to new recipients
AI agents use outlook_forward_email to create or update resources in Outlook — usually the action step of a workflow, after the agent has gathered context. Every call changes real data in your Outlook environment.
Forwarding an email sends an existing message to new recipients. This is a Write operation as it creates a new outbound email, but it is reversible in the sense that it creates new data (a sent email). The severity is high because an AI agent could leak sensitive or confidential information by forwarding emails to unintended recipients.
From the tool's definition Forward an existing email to new recipients
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access outlook_forward_email gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Outlook, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for outlook_forward_email:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"outlook_forward_email": {
"limits": [
{
"counter": "outlook_forward_email_rate",
"window": "minute",
"max": 30,
"scope": "grant"
}
]
}
}
}outlook_forward_email 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.
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Forward an existing email to new recipients. It is categorised as a Write tool in the Outlook MCP Server, which means it can create or modify data. Consider rate limits to prevent runaway writes.
Register the Outlook MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for outlook_forward_email: 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 Outlook. Nothing to install.
outlook_forward_email is a Write tool with medium risk. Write tools should be rate-limited to prevent accidental bulk modifications.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the outlook_forward_email 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 outlook_forward_email. 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.
outlook_forward_email is provided by the Outlook MCP server (xenoxilus/outlook-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Outlook, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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43 Outlook tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.