AI agents need secure access to third-party services like Google Calendar or GitHub on behalf of users. A naive approach that passes user IDs directly creates security vulnerabilities including broken access control and confused deputy attacks. Auth0's Token Vault implements a secure-by-design model where credentials are cryptographically verified through existing user sessions rather than simple string identifiers, eliminating the risk of agents accessing arbitrary user data. This approach enforces zero-trust principles and least-privilege access by default, protecting against privilege escalation and credential leaks across various agent architectures.
Table of contents
Accessing services and MCP servers from your agentsThe simple, naive approachToken Vault’s secure-by-design modelAt a glance: Two models for delegated token accessBuilt for the real-world agentBuild secure agents from day oneSort: