Two amplifiers behind the 779K api.osv.dev DNS queries/16h report:
1. tools/osv_check.py: check_package_for_malware() hit OSV on EVERY
call. MCP reconnect ladders, stdio recycles, and parked-server
self-probes re-run the preflight for the same package on every spawn
attempt, so a flapping server became a sustained OSV query/DNS
stream. Verdicts (clean or blocked) are now cached for 1h
(OSV_CHECK_CACHE_TTL to tune); network failures stay uncached so
fail-open never masks a real advisory once connectivity returns.
2. hermes_cli/security_audit.py: cmd_security_audit() ran full
component discovery twice per audit (_count_components + run_audit).
Discovery now runs once via _discover_components() and run_audit()
accepts the pre-discovered list.
Both regression tests fail against the previous code (verified via
sabotage run).
Replace with for all literal-tuple
membership tests. Set lookup is O(1) vs O(n) for tuple — consistent
micro-optimization across the codebase.
608 instances fixed via `ruff --fix --unsafe-fixes`, 0 remaining.
133 files, +626/-626 (net zero).
Before launching an MCP server via npx/uvx, queries the OSV (Open Source
Vulnerabilities) API to check if the package has known malware advisories
(MAL-* IDs). Regular CVEs are ignored — only confirmed malware is blocked.
- Free, public API (Google-maintained), ~300ms per query
- Runs once per MCP server launch, inside _run_stdio() before subprocess spawn
- Parallel with other MCP servers (asyncio.gather already in place)
- Fail-open: network errors, timeouts, unrecognized commands → allow
- Parses npm (scoped @scope/pkg@version) and PyPI (name[extras]==version)
Inspired by Block/goose extension malware check.
Teknium
kshitij