How to meet it
OWASP AISVS v1.01
Model Context Protocol (MCP) Security · Schema, Message, and Input Validation
Limit schema validation depth
Verify that MCP implementations apply resource bounds to schema validation, such as a maximum schema depth, a cap on the total number of nested schema elements, or a per-validation time budget.
OWASP AISVS v1.01, requirement 10.4.13
In plain English
Put limits on schema validation itself, such as maximum depth, number of nested elements or time, so a crafted schema cannot exhaust resources.
What good looks like
- Depth and size limits apply to schemas.
- Validation has a time budget.
- Schemas over the limits are rejected.
How teams usually do it
- Configuration options in your validation library, plus a wrapper timeout.
Evidence an auditor would accept
- Configuration and tests with deeply nested schemas.
Common mistakes
- Unlimited validation on schemas supplied by remote servers.
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Requirement text from the OWASP AI Security Verification Standard, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This guidance is shared under the same licence.