Using the SQL analogy, suppose this is intended:
SELECT hash('letmein') == secretfiles.hashed_access_code FROM secretfiles WHERE secretfiles.id = '123';
Versus the attacker corrupting it into: SELECT hash('') == hash('') -- ') == secretfiles.hashed_access_code FROM secretfiles WHERE secretfiles.id = '123';Famous last words.
> the tool it uses to interface with the database doesn't have those capabilities
Fair enough. It can e.g. use a DB user with read-only privileges or something like that. Or it might sanitize the allowed queries.
But there may still be some way to drop the database or delete all its data which your tool might not be able to guard against. Some indirect deletions made by a trigger or a stored procedure or something like that, for instance.
The point is, your tool might be relatively safe. But I would be cautious when saying that it is "100 %" safe, as you claim.
That being said, I think that your point still stands. Given safe enough interfaces between the LLM and the other parts of the system, one can be fairly sure that the actions performed by the LLM would be safe.
What I give Claude is an API key that allows it to talk to the mcp server. Everything else is hidden behind that.
If you connect to the database with a connector that only has read access, then the LLM cannot drop the database, period.
If that were bugged (e.g. if Postgres allowed writing to a DB that was configured readonly), then that problem is much bigger has not much to do with LLMs.
This is what I do, and I am 100% confident that Claude cannot drop my database or truncate a table, or read from sensitive tables. I know this because the tool it uses to interface with the database doesn't have those capabilities, thus Claude doesn't have that capability.
It won't save you from Claude maliciously ex-filtrating data it has access to via DNS or some other side channel, but it will protect from worst-case scenarios.