Scan emails for large or suspicious attachments
AI agents call outlook_scan_attachments to retrieve information from Outlook without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and analyzes attachment metadata from emails to identify characteristics (size, suspicion indicators) but does not modify, delete, or execute any code. It is purely informational—a read operation that queries email attachment properties. The blast radius of misuse is minimal, as the worst an AI agent could do is waste resources scanning or report false positives.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'outlook_scan_attachments' and description 'Scan emails for large or suspicious attachments' indicates a scanning/analysis operation with no modification of data.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access outlook_scan_attachments 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_scan_attachments:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"outlook_scan_attachments": {}
}
}outlook_scan_attachments is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Scan emails for large or suspicious attachments. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Outlook MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Outlook MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for outlook_scan_attachments: 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_scan_attachments 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 outlook_scan_attachments 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_scan_attachments. 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_scan_attachments 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.