SSE or Streamable HTTP transport implemented correctly if offered

Servers offering HTTP/SSE transport must produce strictly formatted SSE events with data: prefixes and proper Content-Type: text/event-stream. Omitting the data: prefix causes clients to receive unparseable chunks. Missing CORS headers (CWE-942) block browser-based MCP clients entirely via same-origin policy. Broken session ID management means concurrent clients corrupt each other's message streams. These are protocol-level failures that make the HTTP transport path non-functional for any client not on localhost.

Use the SDK's SSEServerTransport or StreamableHTTPServerTransport rather than implementing SSE manually.

// src/transport/http.ts
import { StreamableHTTPServerTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/streamableHttp.js'
import { randomUUID } from 'crypto'

app.post('/mcp', async (req, res) => {
  const transport = new StreamableHTTPServerTransport({
    sessionIdGenerator: () => randomUUID(),
  })
  await server.connect(transport)
  await transport.handleRequest(req, res)
})

If you need custom CORS for browser clients, add Access-Control-Allow-Origin before the SSE response headers. Never implement the data: prefix manually — use the SDK transport.

• ID: mcp-server.transport-protocol.http-transport

• Severity: medium

• What to look for: Count all HTTP/SSE transport implementations. Enumerate whether the server supports Streamable HTTP with proper SSE event formatting. If the server offers HTTP-based transport (SSE or Streamable HTTP), check that the SSE endpoint sends proper event: message and data: fields. Check that the HTTP endpoint handles POST requests for client-to-server messages and GET/SSE for server-to-client messages. Check CORS headers if the server is meant to be accessed from browser-based clients. Check that the session ID mechanism works correctly for multi-client scenarios.

• Pass criteria: SSE events follow the standard format. HTTP endpoints correctly handle the request/response flow. CORS is configured if needed. Session management works for concurrent clients. HTTP transport must support SSE with proper Content-Type: text/event-stream headers and handle at least 10 concurrent connections.

• Fail criteria: SSE format is incorrect (missing event type or data prefix), HTTP endpoint doesn't handle POST correctly, missing CORS headers for browser clients, or session handling breaks with multiple clients.

• Skip (N/A) when: The server only uses stdio transport (no HTTP/SSE). All checks skip when no MCP server is detected.

• Cross-reference: For stdio transport, see stdio-transport.

• Detail on fail: "SSE endpoint sends raw JSON without 'data: ' prefix — clients cannot parse the stream" or "HTTP transport has no CORS headers — browser-based MCP clients will be blocked by same-origin policy"

• Remediation: If offering HTTP transport, follow the SSE and Streamable HTTP specs:

  // src/transport/http.ts — Streamable HTTP transport
  import { SSEServerTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/sse.js"
  

  // TypeScript SDK — SSE transport
  import { SSEServerTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/sse.js'
  
  app.get('/sse', async (req, res) => {
    const transport = new SSEServerTransport('/message', res)
    await server.connect(transport)
  })
  
  app.post('/message', async (req, res) => {
    await transport.handlePostMessage(req, res)
  })
  
  // Streamable HTTP transport
  import { StreamableHTTPServerTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/streamableHttp.js'
  
  app.post('/mcp', async (req, res) => {
    const transport = new StreamableHTTPServerTransport({ sessionIdGenerator: () => randomUUID() })
    await server.connect(transport)
    await transport.handleRequest(req, res)
  })