About vector-store-scanner
vector-store-scanner is an MCP server for security teams checking vector-store endpoints for unauthenticated exposure. It probes supported databases with read-only checks that escalate from instance details to schema and stored data, without sending credentials.
Key features
- 01Probe six vector-store types
- 02Auto-detect endpoint types
- 03Check instance info, schemas, and data access
- 04Use native protocol probes for Redis and Postgres
- 05Emit SARIF 2.1.0 results
Use cases
- 01Check a vector database for unauthenticated access
- 02Assess exposure of RAG collections and documents
- 03Include endpoint scans in CI security checks
MCP support
Exposes `scan_endpoint` and `list_patterns` tools to MCP clients for checking vector-store endpoints for unauthenticated exposure.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
Tools
2Saved tool list · updated 6d ago
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| tls | boolean | No | Use https:// for HTTP-based probes (Weaviate/Qdrant/Chroma/Elasticsearch). Default: false |
| host | string | Yes | Hostname or IP of the endpoint to probe |
| port | number | No | Port to probe (defaults to the store type's conventional port, e.g. 6333 for Qdrant) |
| type | enum | No | Store type to probe for. 'auto' (default) fingerprints the endpoint by trying each known type in turn.auto | weaviate | qdrant | chroma | elasticsearch | redis | postgres |
| timeoutMs | number | No | Per-request timeout in milliseconds (default: 4000) |
Details
From the project README@guardbee/mcp-vector-store-scanner
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An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that probes a vector-database (or vector-index-capable) endpoint for unauthenticated exposure — the same class of misconfiguration behind repeated real-world incidents of open Elasticsearch/MongoDB/Redis instances leaking data, now aimed at the RAG-era stack: Weaviate, Qdrant, Chroma, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, Redis, and Postgres/pgvector.
Every RAG pipeline's embeddings live somewhere. If that vector store is reachable on the network without authentication, anyone who finds it can read (and often write) every document your retrieval pipeline was ever given — including anything sensitive that made it into a chunk.
Telemetry is off by default. With
GUARDBEE_TELEMETRY=1it sends the server, tool, success, duration and short parameter values such as a file path; longer strings and fields likecontent,tokenorpasswordare replaced with a placeholder. See@guardbee/mcp-telemetry.
Claude ──► vector-store-scanner ──► Your vector-store endpoint
│
├─ weaviate / qdrant / chroma / elasticsearch (HTTP fingerprint)
│ info ──► schema/collections ──► actual stored data
├─ redis (raw RESP: PING, no AUTH sent)
└─ postgres (raw wire protocol: SSLRequest + StartupMessage, no password sent)
How it escalates
Each HTTP-based probe doesn't stop at "is this thing up" — it walks the same path an attacker would, in increasing order of impact, and only reports what actually succeeded:
- Instance info (medium) — version/build details readable without auth. Low impact alone, but confirms the service is exposed and helps fingerprint known CVEs.
- Schema / collection listing (high) — class or collection names readable without auth. Reveals your data model even before any real data is read.
- Actual stored data (critical) — a real object/point/document comes back without auth. This is the finding that matters: your embeddings (and whatever they were built from) are readable by anyone who can reach this port.
Redis and Postgres get the same treatment via their native wire protocols instead of HTTP — a PING (Redis) or a StartupMessage (Postgres) is enough to learn whether authentication is enforced, without ever sending a real password. No credential is ever guessed, brute-forced, or sent — every check here is read-only fingerprinting, the same category of probing dns-intelligence and ssl-inspector already do elsewhere in this monorepo.
Features
- 6 target types: Weaviate, Qdrant, Chroma, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch (HTTP), Redis (raw RESP), Postgres/pgvector (raw wire protocol)
- Auto-detection — fingerprints the endpoint by trying each known type in turn when
typeisn't specified - From-scratch protocol implementations for Redis and Postgres — no client library dependency, no real credentials ever sent, includes a TLS-upgrade path for Postgres's
SSLRequesthandshake - Escalating checks (info → schema → data) so a "critical" finding always means real data was actually read, not just that a port responded
- SARIF 2.1.0 output — CI/CD integration (GitHub Code Scanning, etc.)
- Config file support via
guardbee.yml - 22 unit tests against local mock HTTP/TCP servers, covering every probe's matched/unmatched fingerprint and each escalation level
Quick Start
Claude Desktop / MCP Client
{
"mcpServers": {
"guardbee-vector-store-scanner": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@guardbee/mcp-vector-store-scanner"]
}
}
}
CLI (CI/CD)
npx @guardbee/mcp-vector-store-scanner scan my-qdrant.internal --type=qdrant --fail-on=high --format=sarif > results.sarif
MCP Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
scan_endpoint | Probes a single host/port for unauthenticated exposure |
list_patterns | Lists the supported store types and what each check looks for |
What it catches
| Store | Check | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| Weaviate | /v1/meta readable without auth | medium |
| Weaviate | /v1/schema readable without auth — reveals class names | high |
| Weaviate | /v1/objects returns real data without auth | critical |
| Qdrant | / instance info readable without auth | medium |
| Qdrant | /collections readable without auth | high |
| Qdrant | /collections/<name>/points/scroll returns real data without auth | critical |
| Chroma | heartbeat reachable without auth | medium |
| Chroma | /collections readable without auth | high |
| Elasticsearch/OpenSearch | cluster info readable without auth | medium |
| Elasticsearch/OpenSearch | /_cat/indices readable without auth | high |
| Elasticsearch/OpenSearch | /<index>/_search returns real documents without auth | critical |
| Redis | PING accepted without AUTH | critical |
| Postgres/pgvector | no TLS offered | medium |
| Postgres/pgvector | AuthenticationOk with no password challenge | critical |
Configuration (guardbee.yml)
vector-store-scanner:
fail-on: high # any | critical | high | medium | low | none
timeout-ms: 4000
Limitations (by design)
- Chroma's actual-document read isn't checked — its data-read API varies significantly across versions, so this scanner stops at the collection-listing level for it (still enough to detect the primary "no auth at all" misconfiguration).
- Milvus isn't supported — its primary API is gRPC, which doesn't fingerprint via a lightweight probe the way the others do.
- This checks for unauthenticated read access, not authorization bugs behind a working auth layer (e.g. a valid-but-overprivileged API key) — that's out of scope for an external, credential-less probe.
Development
npm run build
npm test # 22 unit tests
License
MIT — GuardBee
Feedback
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