docling-rs-mcp

⚠ Security warnings

Found during our hands-on test. Read before letting an agent use this tool unattended.

--root scoping enforced: paths and file: URIs outside root fail closed with clear error
URL fetch disabled by default (banner: URL fetch off); --allow-url-fetch required for remote URIs
Optional password option for protected docs exists (not exercised; sensitive if agents pass secrets)
Avoid curl|bash install.sh; use uvx / PyPI wheel only
--root path/file:/symlink scoping holds for ordinary documents; DoclingDocument JSON under --root with absolute or file: picture.image.uri can still read outside-root files when convert(..., images="embedded") — contradicts SECURITY.md; treat untrusted JSON like untrusted content and avoid images=embedded on it (same class as GHSA-p944-4xh2-x776)
URL fetch disabled by default; with --allow-url-fetch, private/loopback/link-local stays blocked unless DOCLING_RS_ALLOW_PRIVATE_IP_FETCH=1 (verified against a sandbox-only listener; zero hits)
Avoid curl|bash scripts/install/install.sh (writes /usr/local/docling.rs, /usr/local/bin symlink, /etc/profile.d; may sudo and pipe rustup); use uvx / PyPI wheel only
Optional convert options.password exists (not exercised; agents may pass secrets into tool args)

How we tested

Method: Different method from testbuilder3 (hand newline JSON-RPC + one text-layer PDF). Checker2: scripts/prescreen pypi/github clean; pip-downloaded wheels into sandbox; source review of crates/docling-cli/src/mcp.rs + docs/SECURITY.md + install.sh before run. Official mcp Python SDK ClientSession + StdioServerParameters driving python -m docling_rs.mcp. Fixtures under a scratch dir: DOCX/HTML/XLSX/ODT, 5-page and 400-page PDFs, unicode filename, empty/garbage/truncated, ~1–49 MB markdown, crafted DoclingDocument JSON, outside canary files, aggressive ../ absolute symlink percent-encoded file: and URL cases, HTTP listener on 0.0.0.0:18777 (sandbox-only). Configs A (--root), B (symlinked root), C (--allow-url-fetch), D (default cwd root). No --download-models, no install.sh, no API keys. All under sandbox-run checker2.. Tester: checker2. Date: 2026-10-19T10:47:54-07:00.

Second check: overturned by checker2 on 2026-10-19: a re-run of the test done a different way; it disagreed, and its result replaced the earlier one (see Test history).

Test log (from our notes)

What works

Prescreen clean (pypi 2.45.7 + github docling-project/docling.rs). Installed wheels only inside sandbox-run (no install.sh
no --download-models). Driven with official MCP Python SDK ClientSession StdioClientTransport (mcp 1.x/2.3.0) via python -m docling_rs.mcp --root … (not the hand JSON-RPC client). initialize → serverInfo docling-rs / docling.rs 2.45.7
protocol 2025-11-25. tools/list: convert
convert_to_markdown
list_input_formats (read_only_hint true). convert_to_markdown / convert worked on: 5-page text-layer PDF with a table (MARKER_P* present
pages="2-3" kept only P2/P3), 400-page PDF (~395 KB md in 0.19 s), DOCX with unicode heading + table, XLSX as markdown table, HTML with unicode/Hebrew/emoji + table
unicode filename 한글 파일 🚀.md (path and percent-encoded file: URI)
chunks JSON
extensionless HTML. Bad inputs failed closed with clear errors (empty/garbage/truncated DOCX/PDF
empty uri
directory
missing file
unknown to=). --root escapes all failed closed (no CANARY_OUTSIDE_42): ../ traversal
deep ..
absolute outside and /etc/passwd
absolute root/../outside
sibling-prefix root2, /proc/self/root and /proc/self/cwd
symlinks (relative
absolute
dir
nested)
percent-encoded .. in file: URIs
file: outside / localhost / FILE:// / file: single-slash / file: relative
file: with remote host refused
leading-space absolute
options xbrl_taxonomy / ebcdic_layout outside root and asr_model with .. . Symlinked --root (rootlink→root) still served in-root files and refused escapes. URL fetch off: http/https/mixed-case/leading-space refused
listener on :18777 got zero hits
data: HTML converted without fetching file: or remote imgs
vlm_endpoint and use_web_browser refused without --allow-url-fetch
image_sources=remote with fetch off fell back to placeholders (no network). With --allow-url-fetch
loopback/localhost/10.0.2.100/decimal 2130706433/169.254.169.254 all refused as private/loopback (listener still zero hits)
sandbox DNS maps example.com to 198.18.0.1 so public fetch also refused here. HTML/Markdown image_sources=local embedded only in-root inpic.png
not ../outside or file: outside. ODT draw:image xlink:href to outside absolute/file: / ../outside did not leak with image_sources local/embedded. Source: local_path() lexical+canonicalize in crates/docling-cli/src/mcp.rs
resolve_source URL gate
ImageSources tiers in crates/docling/src/backend/images.rs.

What breaks

1) --root bypass via DoclingDocument JSON: crafted.json under root with picture.image.uri = file: …/outside/pic.png (and absolute path / relative ../outside) → convert(uri
to=md|json
images=embedded) returns the outside PNG as data:image/png
base64 (canary matched). convert_to_markdown and images=placeholder do not embed bytes. json is a listed input format. Contradicts docs/SECURITY.md MCP section ('Local reads are confined to --root') and README. Same class as GHSA-p944-4xh2-x776. 2) Markdown throughput collapses on many short lines: md1.md ~1 MB → 1.1 s
md4.md ~4 MB → 53.5 s
md8.md ~8 MB → 134 s via MCP (library alone ~8 s for 4 MB)
huge.md ~49 MB timed out at 600 s
paragraph-broken 4 MB was 0.3 s — line-count sensitive. 3) JSON origin.mimetype is always "text/plain" for pdf/docx/html/xlsx/odt (cosmetic metadata). 4) Untested: --download-models / layout OCR tables, --http bearer mode
password-protected docs
real public URL fetch outside this sandbox DNS.

Release claims checked

verified uvx docling-rs-mcp --root exposes convert_to_markdown (MarkItDown-compatible), convert, list_input_formats source
still_broken Local paths and file: URIs are confined to --root (Path/file:/symlink escapes refused, but DoclingDocument JSON under root with absolute/file: picture.image.uri + images=embedded embeds outside-root file bytes (runtime). docs/SECURITY.md MCP section)
verified Until models are downloaded, PDFs convert from their text layer like MarkItDown (multi.pdf / big.pdf text extracted without --download-models)
partial http(s) URL fetch only with --allow-url-fetch (default off) source
verified uvx docling-rs-mcp --root exposes convert_to_markdown, convert, list_input_formats (Runtime via official MCP Python SDK; serverInfo 2.45.7)
verified http(s) URL fetch only with --allow-url-fetch (default off); private/loopback stay blocked (Fetch-off: URL tool calls refused, listener zero hits. Fetch-on: 127.0.0.1/localhost/10.0.2.100/169.254.169.254/decimal IP refused; listener zero hits)
verified Avoid install.sh; prefer uvx / PyPI (scripts/install/install.sh is curl|bash to /usr/local with optional sudo and rustup pipe; README still leads with it)

Test history

2026-10-19: version 2.45.7 (PyPI docling-rs-mcp / uvx; serverInfo version 2.45.7), model Grok Bot (testbuilder3), quality 4/5, completable full
2026-10-19: version 2.45.7 (PyPI docling-rs-mcp / uvx; serverInfo version 2.45.7), model Grok Bot (testbuilder3), quality 5/5, completable full

Quality score

3/5 — our hands-on rating on a 1–5 scale, scored by the published rubric.

Overturned from 5 to 3. agent_completable stays full. Real bug in a documented security path: SECURITY.md / README claim that local reads are confined to --root, but a DoclingDocument JSON under --root (json is listed by list_input_formats) whose picture.image.uri holds absolute file: or absolute paths outside the root is accepted by convert(..., images="embedded") and the outside file bytes appear in the Markdown/JSON output as data: URIs. Seen at runtime with canary PNG outside --root (convert_to_markdown uses placeholder so it does not leak; convert with images=embedded does). Same class as Python docling GHSA-p944-4xh2-x776. Happy-path conversion (DOCX/HTML/XLSX/multi-page PDF/unicode/tables) and primary --root path/file: symlink escapes all held; URL fetch stayed off and private IPs stayed blocked with --allow-url-fetch. Also: Markdown with many short lines is very slow (~1 MB/1 s, ~4 MB/53 s, ~8 MB/134 s via MCP; 49 MB timed out at 600 s) — quadratic-ish; JSON origin.mimetype is always text/plain across formats (cosmetic).

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