AI MCP OAuth2

The AI MCP OAuth2 plugin secures Model Context Protocol (MCP) traffic on Kong AI Gateway using OAuth 2.0 specification for MCP servers. It ensures only authorized MCP clients can access protected MCP servers, and acts as a crucial security layer for MCP servers.

The plugin provides OAuth 2.0 authentication for MCP traffic, allowing MCP clients to safely request access. It validates that access tokens are issued specifically for the target MCP server, ensuring only authorized requests are accepted. To reduce the risk of token theft or confused deputy attacks, the plugin does not pass access tokens to upstream services.

The plugin performs three core functions:

• Validates incoming MCP requests by verifying access tokens from an external Authorization Server.
• Extracts claims from validated tokens and forwards them to upstream MCP services via headers.
• Ensures compliance with MCP authorization requirements based on OAuth 2.1.

The plugin follows the following authorization flow:

• Kong AI Gateway acts as the Resource Server, enforcing access control.
• The MCP clients send requests with a valid Authorization: Bearer <access-token> header.
• The plugin validates tokens, checks the intended audience, and blocks invalid or expired tokens with a 401 Unauthorized.
• Access tokens are never passed to upstream services, protecting against token theft or confused deputy attacks.

 
sequenceDiagram
    participant C as MCP client
    participant K as AI MCP OAuth2 plugin
    participant AS as Authorization server
    participant U as Upstream MCP server

    C->>K: Discover protected resource metadata
    activate K
    K-->>C: Protected resource metadata (includes auth server address)
    deactivate K

    C->>AS: Request access token
    activate AS
    AS-->>C: Access token
    deactivate AS

    C->>K: MCP auth request
    activate K
    K->>AS: Introspect token
    activate AS
    AS-->>K: Valid / invalid
    deactivate AS

    alt Token valid
        K->>U: Forward request with claims as headers
        activate U
        U-->>K: MCP server response
        deactivate U
        K-->>C: MCP response
    else Token invalid
        K-->>C: 401 Unauthorized
    end
    deactivate K

  

The AI MCP OAuth2 plugin is designed to secure MCP traffic as early as possible in the request lifecycle to prevent unauthorized access before any AI-specific processing occurs.

Note: Like, the AI MCP Proxy plugin, the AI MCP OAuth2 plugin is not invoked as part of an LLM request flow.

Instead, it is registered and executed as a regular plugin, allowing it to capture MCP traffic independently of LLM request flow. The AI MCP OAuth2 plugin can be used on its own for upstream MCP proxying or in combination with the AI MCP Proxy plugin when request/response conversion is needed.