Hosting COM Servers with an MCP Server
Summary
The mcp-com-server is a tool that connects the Model Context Protocol (MCP, a standard for AI systems to interact with external tools) to COM (Component Object Model, Microsoft's decades-old system for sharing functionality across programs on Windows). This allows an AI like Claude to automate Windows and Office tasks, such as creating Excel files and sending emails, by dynamically discovering and controlling COM objects. The main security risk is that COM can access dangerous operations like file system access, so the server uses an allowlist (a list of approved COM objects that are permitted to run) to restrict which COM objects can be instantiated.
Solution / Mitigation
The source explicitly mentions two mitigations: (1) An Allow List for CLSIDs and ProgIDs, where 'the MCP server will instantiate allow listed COM objects' and notes this 'could be expanded to include specific interfaces/methods as well,' and (2) 'Confirmation Dialogs' where 'Claude shows an Allow / Deny button before invoking custom tools by default' to 'make sure a human remains in the loop,' though the source notes this 'can be disabled, but also re-enabled in the Claude Settings per MCP tool.'
Classification
Affected Vendors
Related Issues
Original source: https://embracethered.com/blog/posts/2025/mcp-com-server-automate-anything-on-windows/
First tracked: February 12, 2026 at 02:20 PM
Classified by LLM (prompt v3) · confidence: 75%