Cortex Gateway (wellknownmcp/cortex-gateway) is an MCP server listed on the M8ven Trust Index. It scores 58 out of 100, grade D. It declares 5 tools. No publisher has claimed this listing.

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D
Caution
58/100

Cortex Gateway

A federated MCP gateway that consolidates multiple plain-HTTP backends into a single, OAuth-protected MCP server, enabling agents to access diverse tools through one endpoint with centralized authentication and audit.

→ wellknownmcp/cortex-gateway· listed on glama

Caution. Specific findings reduced this grade. They are listed on the page. Grades reflect the full trust pyramid: code, verification depth, and reputation. New projects cap at C until adoption is earned.

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Who stands behind it

wellknownmcp

Source: Glama

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Install from

Glamanot scored here

The grade above is for the source repository. Registries can serve a different version, so we mark the ones we were not able to read.

// key findings
⚠️
Known vulnerabilities in dependencies: 3 high
Affects packages this MCP installs at runtime. Upgrade or remove the affected dependency.
✅
No credential exfiltration, no sensitive file access, no obfuscation
Static analysis found nothing flowing your secrets to unexpected places.
✅
Open source with a license and README
Anyone can audit the code, the license is declared, and the publisher documents what it does.
🔐
You'll be asked for 10 credentials: CORTEX_ADMIN_SECRET, CORTEX_BASELINE_PRIVATE_KEY, CORTEX_BASELINE_PUBLIC_KEY, CORTEX_DEV_BYPASS_TOKEN, CORTEX_TECHNICAL_TOKEN, CORTEX_VAULT_KEY, CRON_SECRET, INTROSPECT_CLIENT_SECRET, OAUTH_INTROSPECT_CLIENT_SECRET, RESEND_API_KEY
These are read from process.env at runtime. Make sure you trust where they’ll be sent.
// tools this server exposes5 tools

These names and descriptions are the publisher's own, read from the source code. We print them as written. Our assessment is the findings above, not this list.

whoami

Returns the caller's OAuth identity (email, sub, pool, scopes, client, audience, jti) and aggregates the whoami of every healthy federated backend (effective role in that backend, derived capabilities). Useful to know who you are and what you may do before invoking a write tool.

list_cortex_resources

Lists the MCP resources exposed by the gateway (self-describing architecture document, dynamic backend resources through URI templates). Wrapper tool over the resources/list channel, needed because some MCP clients do not surface the resources primitive in their visible tool palette.

read_cortex_resource

Reads an MCP resource by URI (e.g. cortex://architecture, docs://document/42). Wrapper tool over the resources/read channel. Returns Markdown or JSON depending on the resource. Use after list_cortex_resources to discover available URIs.

report_missing_capability
list_cortex_tickets
// known CVEs in dependencies3 high5 medium

Disclosed vulnerabilities in this server's declared npm dependencies (via OSV). Whether each is reachable depends on the installed versions.

highnext@15.5.18GHSA-89xv-2m56-2m9x

Next.js: Server-Side Request Forgery in Server Actions on custom servers

highnext@15.5.18GHSA-m99w-x7hq-7vfj

Next.js: Denial of Service in App Router using Server Actions

highnext@15.5.18GHSA-p9j2-gv94-2wf4

Next.js: Server-Side Request Forgery in rewrites via attacker-controlled destination hostname

mediumnext@15.5.18GHSA-4633-3j49-mh5q

Next.js: Cache confusion of response bodies for requests with bodies containing invalid UTF-8 byte sequences

mediumnext@15.5.18GHSA-4c39-4ccg-62r3

Next.js: Unbounded Server Action payload in Edge runtime

Depend on this server? Get alerted when its CVEs change.Watch this server free →
// environment variables
To run this server yourself, you supply these values. They go in your own MCP client configuration and stay on your machine. The secret label means the value is sensitive, not that the server mishandles it.
configAUTH_EMAIL_FROM
configBRIDGE_GATEWAY_PORTthe gateway port from (default 3213). Design notes and
configBRIDGE_SCOPESSelf-granted scopes come from (gateway builtins need none);
🔐 secretCORTEX_ADMIN_SECRETwith block Secret for /api/admin/tool-integrity, the operator endpoint that reviews and clears quarantines
configCORTEX_ALLOWED_ORIGINSprod Web origins allowed (exact or .suffix)
configCORTEX_ALLOW_INSECURE_BACKENDS
configCORTEX_AUDIT_RETENTION_DAYS
configCORTEX_BACKENDS+ CORTEX_BACKEND_<ID>_URL yes Federated backends
🔐 secretCORTEX_BASELINE_PRIVATE_KEY/ _PUBLIC_KEY no Ed25519 signing of that store. Public key alone = the gateway verifies approvals but cannot mint them
🔐 secretCORTEX_BASELINE_PUBLIC_KEY
configCORTEX_BASELINE_PUBLIC_KEY_HINT
configCORTEX_CANONICAL_URIprod Canonical MCP resource URI (RFC 9728), default JWT audience
configCORTEX_DATABASE_URLno PostgreSQL for audit persistence + gateway tickets
configCORTEX_DEV_BYPASS_ROLE
configCORTEX_DEV_BYPASS_SCOPESmcp:demo:read
🔐 secretCORTEX_DEV_BYPASS_TOKENdev-secret
configCORTEX_MCP_SERVERS
configCORTEX_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE
configCORTEX_REQUIRED_POOL
configCORTEX_SERVER_NAME
🔐 secretCORTEX_TECHNICAL_TOKENdemo-technical-token
configCORTEX_TICKET_BACKENDS
configCORTEX_TICKET_WEBHOOK_URLno Webhook for blocking missing-capability tickets
configCORTEX_TOOL_BASELINE_FILEwith block Where approved tool definitions persist; without it a restart re-approves the current state
configCORTEX_TOOL_INTEGRITY_MODEno warn (default) or block — rug-pull detection on tool definitions
🔐 secretCORTEX_VAULT_KEY
configCORTEX_WEBSITE_URLno websiteUrl shown by MCP clients (default: the gateway origin). Server icons: replace public/icon-{light,dark}.png
🔐 secretCRON_SECRET
configINTROSPECT_CLIENT_ID
🔐 secretINTROSPECT_CLIENT_SECRET
configOAUTH_AUDIENCE
configOAUTH_INTROSPECT_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS
configOAUTH_INTROSPECT_CLIENT_ID
🔐 secretOAUTH_INTROSPECT_CLIENT_SECRET
configOAUTH_INTROSPECT_URL
configOAUTH_ISSUERIn production you point at your OAuth 2.1 authorization
configOAUTH_JWKS_URL
configOAUTH_KEY_ID
configOAUTH_MCP_AUDIENCE
configOAUTH_REQUIRED_SCOPESno Baseline scope demanded before any dispatch
configRATE_LIMIT_DISABLED
🔐 secretRESEND_API_KEY
// quality suggestions

Tool annotations

No tools have read-only/destructive annotations

Add readOnlyHint or destructiveHint annotations to every tool so hosts can warn users before invoking.

All four hints declared on every tool

5/5 tools missing one or more hints — whoami (missing: readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint); list_cortex_resources (missing: readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint); read_cortex_resource (missing: readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint), +2 more. OpenAI's directory rejects tools where any of the four hints are missing or non-boolean.

For every tool, set all four hints (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint) to explicit true/false values that match the handler’s actual behaviour.

Tool test coverage

2/5 tools referenced in tests (40%)

Write tests that reference each tool by name so every tool has at least one test.

Shell command execution

1 child_process call — runs shell commands

Prefer library functions over shell-outs. If you must shell out, ensure all inputs are properly escaped.

Secrets not logged

3 secret values sent to console.log

Redact or omit secret values from log output.

Production dependencies are patched

0 critical, 3 high severity in production deps — next@15.5.18 (high), next@15.5.18 (high)

Run npm audit fix, or upgrade the affected packages to a non-vulnerable version.

Claim the listing to review these findings one by one and send us a correction where you disagree, straight to the team. Claiming also means we tell you when the grade moves, and reach you first if we find anything urgent.

// full audit trail
The findings above are the summary. The full trail, every check we ran, each deduction, the network hosts observed and the dependency advisories, goes to verified publishers, along with an alert whenever a new one lands. Verified publishers can also review each finding and dispute it in one click. Publisher corrections have sharpened several of our checks this month, because the maintainer knows the codebase better than any scanner.
// improvement guidance — verified publishers only
We have 6 concrete improvements we can share with the publisher of this MCP. Each comes with specific guidance to raise the trust score.
// embed badge in your README
[![M8ven Verified](https://m8ven.ai/badge/mcp/wellknownmcp/cortex-gateway?variant=verified)](https://m8ven.ai/mcp/wellknownmcp/cortex-gateway)
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commit: 234ca41f092e494e6b965ea5228a61d71377cad5
code hash: 1ee29e99bdfbecc66f53f98dd4668a6740e9a3d761dbed1481d019da45ef9093
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