name: MCP Postgres Suspicious Query
id: 6a168ce8-9a39-4492-9416-a67abdc56c53
version: 3
creation_date: '2026-02-17'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Rod Soto
status: production
type: Hunting
description: This detection identifies potentially malicious SQL queries executed through MCP PostgreSQL server connections, monitoring for privilege escalation attempts, credential theft, and schema reconnaissance. These patterns are commonly observed in SQL injection attacks, compromised application credentials, and insider threat scenarios targeting database assets.
data_source:
    - MCP Server
search: |
    `mcp_server` method=query direction=inbound
    | eval dest=host
    | eval query_lower=lower('params.query')
    | eval suspicious_query='params.query'
    | eval is_priv_escalation=if(like(query_lower, "%update%users%role%admin%") OR like(query_lower, "%grant%admin%") OR like(query_lower, "%grant%superuser%"), 1, 0)
    | eval is_credential_theft=if(like(query_lower, "%password%") OR like(query_lower, "%credential%") OR like(query_lower, "%api_key%") OR like(query_lower, "%secret%"), 1, 0)
    | eval is_recon=if(like(query_lower, "%information_schema%") OR like(query_lower, "%pg_catalog%") OR like(query_lower, "%pg_tables%") OR like(query_lower, "%pg_user%"), 1, 0)
    | where is_priv_escalation=1 OR is_credential_theft=1 OR is_recon=1
    | eval attack_type=case(
        is_priv_escalation=1, "Privilege Escalation",
        is_credential_theft=1, "Credential Theft",
        is_recon=1, "Schema Reconnaissance",
        1=1, "Unknown")
    | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(suspicious_query) as suspicious_queries values(attack_type) as attack_types dc(attack_type) as attack_diversity by dest
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | table dest firstTime lastTime count suspicious_queries attack_types attack_diversity
    | `mcp_postgres_suspicious_query_filter`
how_to_implement: Install the MCP Technology Add-on from https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/8377 and ensure MCP PostgreSQL server logging is enabled and forwarding to the right index with proper params.query field extraction. Schedule the search to run every 5-15 minutes and configure alerting thresholds based on your environment.
known_false_positives: Legitimate database administrators performing user management tasks, ORM frameworks querying information_schema for schema validation, password reset functionality, and CI/CD pipelines running database migrations.
references:
    - https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/8377
    - https://www.nodejs-security.com/blog/the-tale-of-the-vulnerable-mcp-database-server
    - https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/security/securing-ai-agents-model-context-protocol.html
analytic_story:
    - Suspicious MCP Activities
asset_type: Web Application
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1555
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: application
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/mcp/mcp.log
          sourcetype: mcp:jsonrpc
          source: mcp.log
      test_type: unit