Streamable HTTP server accepts mismatched header/body protocol versions and negotiates 2024-11-05 on initialize

[cclabadmin]

Describe the bug

When the initial initialize request carries a MCP-Protocol-Version HTTP header that disagrees with initialize.params.protocolVersion in the JSON-RPC body, the server accepts the request without error. In these tests, the negotiated version does not follow either the body or the header, the server returns a server-determined version (2024-11-05) regardless of both input values.

The current MCP 2025-11-25 specification does not explicitly require the server to check body/header consistency on initialize, so this is filed as an implementation observation rather than a strict spec-violation claim.

• Environment
  • Reproduced with stable release rmcp-v1.7.0 (3529c367)
  • Also reproduced with a main snapshot from 2026-05-15: cc66e309
  • Transport: Streamable HTTP server (stateful profile)

To reproduce

1. Start a Rust SDK Streamable HTTP server.
2. Send an initialize request where the body protocolVersion is 2025-11-25 but the MCP-Protocol-Version header is 2025-03-26 (or vice versa).
3. Observe that the server returns HTTP 200 with a normal initialize result.
4. Check the negotiated protocol version in the response.

Expected behavior

Option A: the server rejects the mismatch before negotiation, for example with HTTP 400 or a JSON-RPC Invalid Request error.

Option B: the spec clarifies which field is authoritative, and the SDK documents that behavior and covers it with a regression test.

Logs

Both mismatch directions were accepted:

body=2025-11-25 header=2025-03-26 -> HTTP 200, negotiated version = 2024-11-05 (server-determined)
body=2025-03-26 header=2025-11-25 -> HTTP 200, negotiated version = 2024-11-05 (server-determined)

The server returned its own preferred protocol version (2024-11-05) regardless of both the body and header values. In the observed behavior, the negotiated version did not follow either mismatched input value. However, the negotiated version (2024-11-05) may still differ from what a client would expect from either signal.

With a Streamable HTTP server running, set ENDPOINT to the server endpoint and send an initial initialize request whose HTTP header and JSON-RPC body disagree:

ENDPOINT=http://127.0.0.1:8080/mcp

curl -i -sS --http1.1 -X POST "$ENDPOINT" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
  -H 'MCP-Protocol-Version: 2025-03-26' \
  --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":"init-conflict-1","method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-11-25","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"version-conflict-repro","version":"0.1.0"}}}'

Then repeat with the values reversed: body 2025-03-26, header 2025-11-25.

Additional context

• Related: SEP-2575 introduces a related future-state requirement that, for HTTP requests, the MCP-Protocol-Version header match _meta["io.modelcontextprotocol/protocolVersion"].